Chapter 15

Bliss narrowed her eyes at Clint. She could use this opportunity to get some answers she wanted out of him.

“Tell you what, I’ll tell you what you want to know about Seth if you’ll answer a question for me. Sort of an exchange?” She asked.

Clint leveled her with a suspicious look, making her regret asking the question.

“What do you want to know about me that’s so important?” he asked her.

“How you became a gunfighter?” Bliss blurted. She already got herself into this mess; she might as well follow through.

Clint groaned and began walking back to camp. Bliss hurried to catch up with him.

“Why is that so important to you?” Clint asked her.

Bliss had to walk fast to keep up with his long strides.

“It’s not. I’m simply curious about what made you the way you are,” she answered.

“The way I am? What exactly is the way I am?” Clint asked, glancing over at her.

“Well, you’re secretive and you refuse to talk about anything personal. You’re like a big, emotionless brick wall. Something had to have made you like that,” Bliss stated her thoughts.

“Did it ever occur to you that I like being a big, emotionless brick wall?” Clint lowered his voice as they neared camp.

Bliss rolled her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m curious about you, but I am. I feel like there’s something about you that… that…”

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t find a word to go on the end of that sentence, couldn’t put her finger on what Clint Slade’s hidden character made her feel.

“I will tell you one thing about life, Miss Cooper, and that is that you’ll be a lot better off if you hide a thing or two. People can’t be trusted with every part of you. Nothing can,” Clint told her, a hint of sincerity in his voice.

Bliss couldn’t say anything to that. He was right, and that was exactly why she wasn’t disclosing any information about Seth Ryder.

Not yet.

*****

Grace knelt beside her bed that night, the light glow on the bedside table shining a dim light over the hand-sewn quilt and open Bible in front of her. Romans 8:26 and 27 was underlined with a pencil on the yellowed page, speaking of the countless tears that she had shed over the ones that she loved so dearly. Clasping her calloused, worn hands and resting them on the edge of the bed, she took a deep breath and reread the words over again in a hushed voice.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

A sigh escaped her lips and a peace filled her heart as she prayed to the Lord.

“God, you know the worries that I have about Sherman and Bliss. I’m afraid for their souls. They think they’re hiding so much from me, but they’re only deceiving themselves. They need to believe in You again. I know they used to a mighty faith in You, but I don’t know what happened. They’ve been broken inside in a place that only You can see, and I’m begging You to work in their lives. Use me, Lord. Please, I just want to know that they are where they belong. Take away everything that separates us so that I can be molded into the witness that You can use. Be my guide. Be my hope. Be my words, my thoughts. Be my… everything, Lord. Give me a heart that desires You first in all things. Please keep those kids safe out there tonight and bring them home safely. Give us all a good night and peaceful dreams. Through Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.”

Pulling her stiff joints into a standing position, Grace folded the Bible and placed it on the bedside table. A chill came over her as she blew out the candle before slipping under the warm quilt on her bed. When the temperatures got down into the forties and fifties, that’s when she started to dread the winter. Her old bones couldn’t take the cold like they used to. And for Arizona, the forties and fifties were cold.

Closing her eyes and trying to relax from the day, Grace found her thoughts wondering to Bliss. The girl was just like a daughter to her. Oh, Grace remembered that girlish sparkle she used to have in her eyes. It was such a shame that she had to grow up so quickly. As a child, you never really notice about the things going on around you, only the things that matter most to you. Bliss had always been a carefree child until Seth came along.

Eighteen years old was her age. Bliss had been an adult on the outside, but a whimsical child on the inside. Seth had made her grow up in a matter of months, and now there was no sparkle behind her cocoa-brown eyes, nothing to hide the emotion she was feeling so often. Bliss was such a sweet person and had a kind heart, but it was hidden by the experiences of the past.

Grace’s eyes dipped closed just as another prayer flew heavenward from her heart.

Lord, please grant Bliss her sparkle back. Help her to find You.

*****

Bliss let out a deep sigh of relief as the familiar ranch house and barn came into view. In her excitement, she put her hands on Colt’s bicep and squeezed. It felt so good to be home.

Then it dawned on her.

Colt was sitting behind her.

Bliss glanced over at Clint, who glared at her as if he was just seeing for the first time. One of his eyebrows eased upward. She released his arm and straightened her back to form the perfect posture that Grace had taught her, her cheeks flaming in embarrassment. Colt knew of her urge to grab and squeeze the nearest person’s arm when she got excited, but Clint didn’t seem to understand her urges yet. He shrugged his shoulder and directed his gaze straight ahead.

Bliss heard a snicker behind her and turned to send Colt a glare. He looked away, not even attempting to put away his smile. She rolled her eyes.

' They pulled up in front of the house and Bliss hopped down, glad to be home. Grace came running out of the house and smiled when she saw them.

“It’s so good to see you four alive and well,” she said as she wrapped her arms around Bliss.

“It’s good to be home, Grace,” Bliss smiled and hugged the lady back.

“Well, Miss Blissful, it’s about time you decided to come back,” Mose’s slow, drawling voice echoed over Bliss’s shoulder from where he was tending to take the harnesses off the horses.

Bliss turned around. “It’s nice to know that you didn’t burn the place down while I was gone.”

Mose’s wheezy laugh made her smile broaden just as her father rode up from the trail that led to the herd.

“There’s my baby girl!” he exclaimed, jumping off his horse just before it stopped and taking his daughter into his arms.

Bliss wrapped her arms around her father’s broad shoulders and let his squeeze her until she feared she was about to pop.

“Are you okay? Did you run into any trouble? Are you hurt?” Daddy stroked her cheek with his fingers to accompany his concerned questions.

“I’m fine, Daddy. There was no trouble…” Bliss eyed Clint, who paused in his efforts to unload the contents of the wagon onto the porch alongside Colt and Damian. He looked over at her and there was a hint of an emotion behind his eyes. Were his eyes pleading? “At least not any trouble worth mentioning,” Bliss finished.

She saw Clint release a heavy breath and go one about setting a crate of canned items on the porch.

“Good, Good. How is Minnie?” Daddy asked.

Bliss took a deep breath and went on to tell her father all of the interesting things that Minnie had relayed to her. Daddy loved hearing the latest news, as if his newspaper collection wasn’t a testament to that. They walked toward the house and past the supplies on the porch. Bliss threw a glance over her shoulder at Clint and smiled, hoping that her mistake of treating him so wrongly had been forgiven when she didn’t tell her father about Clint’s scene in the saloon and afterwards.

Clint pressed his lips into a thin line - almost a faint smile - and nodded at her. Bliss focused her eyes ahead of her and felt relieved. The last thing she, or any other person on the earth for that matter, needed was Clint Slade having a grudge against them.

*****

Clint placed the last of the crates onto the porch and straightened his back, stretching his muscles.

“You wanna take the wagon and team to the barn, or do you want me to?” he asked Colt.

“I’ll get it. You go on inside and ask Grace where she wants this stuff,” Colt said.

Clint turned and started to walk toward the front door.

“Wait,” Colt groaned.

“What?” Clint turned around.

“That old coot,” Colt mumbled under his breath as he stared at the front of the wagon.
“Mose done unhitched the horses and took them to the barn, didn’t he?” Clint asked though he already knew the answer.

Colt nodded.

Clint groaned.

“Reckon it’d be easier just to pull the wagon over there ourselves? I really don’t want to take the time to hitch the team up all over again,” Colt admitted.

“I think we can do it,” Clint stated, walking over to stand opposite of Colt with the wagon tongue in between them. “We need someone to push it in the back. Where did Damian go?”

Colt jerked his head toward the house. “He went behind the house to the outhouse real quick to relieve himself.”

“He’s been gone awhile,” Clint observed.

“He’ll be here shortly,” Colt said confidently.

So they waited, and waited, and waited until finally, Damian came around the side of the house.

“It took you long enough,” Clint grumbled.

“It was a long ride,” Damian defended.

“Well, get behind this wagon and push it for us,” Colt demanded.

Damian looked over the situation, but didn’t ask any questions. Instead, he walked to the back of the wagon and prepared to push it.

*****

Bliss took a long swig of the warm tea that Grace had made for her, relishing in its steaming warmth. Her fingers wrapped around the cup and took their comfort from the heat of the outside. A good cup of tea was exactly what she needed to warm her up after the nights of sleeping on the cold ground on the trail. She didn’t understand how Damian could stand being outside with his shirt sleeves pulled up past his elbows in this weather. She had lived in Arizona too long.

Daddy had returned to the herd and Grace was tending to the breakfast dishes, leaving Bliss alone with her thoughts. She had begun to wonder what the men were up to, as she had not seen them for a few minutes and it had appeared that they were nearly done unloading the wagon when she last saw them, when her gaze wandered to the window and caught sight of what was going on.

Clint and Colt each had their hands on the tongue of the wagon, pulling it across the yard toward the barn. Damian was pushing the wagon from behind, his forehead breaking out in a sweat.

Bliss shook her head.

Wasn’t this what they had horses for?

Maybe it was best not to ask questions of them when they returned.

Bliss found that it was impossible to tear her gaze away from them as they pushed the empty wagon across the yard. Colt and Clint appeared to hardly have any trouble pulling the wagon, while Damian was having a hard time pushing it. They neared the barn and Bliss heard Colt call out for Damian to stop.

He apparently didn’t hear them.

The wagon was heading straight for the barn wall. The slight downward slope from the house to the barn was turning out to be a great disadvantage instead of a help to them. Colt and Clint dug the heels of their boots into the dirt, trying to stop the wagon while yelling at Damian.

Damian stopped pushing, but the wagon was still moving. Colt and Clint pushed against it, but the wagon only made them skid backwards in their efforts. Slowly, the wagon began to lessen in pace as it drew nearer to the barn wall. Damian stood helpless off to the side, not even offering to help.

There was indeed an emotion behind Clint’s eyes at this moment.

Panic.

Such a sarcastic amount of panic that it was almost comical to Bliss.

Just before the wagon tongue punctured the barn wall, the wagon rolled to a stop with Colt and Clint’s boots both dug a good three inches into the sandy earth.

Damian commenced to lean his head back and laugh at them. Colt and Clint stared at him as he laughed uncontrollably, slapping his knee with his hand. Even Bliss found herself giggling.

Colt and Clint, however, found no humor in the situation at all. They took off their hats and threw them to the ground before running after Damian. The older man took off running, but was no match for the two younger men. Bliss took off out the back door just as they caught up to him. Clint straddled him while Colt knelt by his head, drawing his fist back and preparing to punch.

“Really, you two?” Bliss called out just in time to stop them. “You’re going to beat up an old man?”

“Did you see what he did to us?” Colt asked, pointing at the wagon.

“Yes, I did. Damian made a mistake, but…”

“He made two,” Clint interrupted her. “The first was standing by why we nearly got flattened against the barn wall, and the second was laughing about it.”

Bliss held up one hand, palm forward. “Granted. Do you really want to lower yourself to the level of beating him up, though? I think there’s a better way to pay him back.”

She didn’t believe the words that were coming out of her own mouth.

Colt and Clint narrowed their eyes at her. “Like what?”

Ta Da! Thank you guys SO much for reading! Tell me what you think! I stayed up late last night to finish this for ya'll:)