Chapter 12

Myra lay in her bed alone that night, her breathing shallow as tears wet her pillow. Her whole family had left her alone in the big house that had used to accompany so many happy voices with no one but the hired help. The dreams she wished would preoccupy her sorrowful mind bounced around in her head without materializing.

Just keep breathing, Myra. Good will come of this. I promise.

Those had been the last words that Jacob had told her before kissing her goodbye and riding off with Adam and his posse.

He had tried to hide the truth from her, but she would not be fooled. She knew that the reason Adam really came back to town was to gather up a posse not only to help in the search, but because he feared she had been kidnapped.

The thought his Myra hard. The thought of her baby girl in the hands of a heartless stranger made her grit her teeth and grit her teeth. The moment that she heard of who had touched Jess, she would personally see to it that the man regretted his actions.

Rolling over onto her back, she closed her eyes and opened her heart up, hoping that the words she couldn’t say reached the Father anyway.

“Lord, please help my Jess. I’m so scared that she is hurt or worse. You know how worried I am, and you know the pain that I’m feeling. I can’t help but wonder if you’re watching over my Jessie. She’s such a sweet girl and has never done anyone any wrong. She doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. Please, if she is in the hands of a stranger. Please make sure she is protected. That’s all she’s ever wanted. To be protected by someone who knows her best. Someone who knows what she can handle and what she can’t. Please, Lord. Hear my heart. Keep her safe.”

*****

Colt couldn’t sleep to save his life. Between worrying about Jesse and Doc’s incessant snoring, he knew that sleep was another world away right now. Something inside him was unsettled. Something was eating at him and he couldn’t put his finger on it, which contributed to his sleepless state, no doubt.

All he did was stare at the wall that separated Jesse’s room from his. He couldn’t get that stranger’s stare out of his mind. The violating look had completely given away the man’s thoughts. It was nearly enough to drive him to anger, but Colt had never been one to get riled up so easy.

It was more than likely just some stranger who had no manners and didn’t plan causing trouble.

Yeah, that’s what it was.

He rolled over and closed his eyes. He would have to try to get some sleep and forget about the whole thing. There was no use in borrowing trouble.

A sound echoed in his ears. A low, muffled sound that couldn’t have been real. It sounded like his name was being called.

He strained his ears, but heard nothing.

It was just his imagination.

Heaving a sigh, he relaxed against his pillow and closed his eyes.

The sound came again, a little louder this time.

He sat straight up, his heart plummeting. That sound didn’t come from his imagination this time. He climbed out of bed and walked to the door, looking back to make sure that Doc was still asleep. Just as he reached for the doorknob, something hit the wall that separated the room from Jessie’s.

Colt tore the door open and bolted to the next room. No reasonable thoughts ran through his mind, only the picture of that stranger’s lustful stare.

He twisted the knob to Jessie’s door and flung it open.

“Boy, I will flat knock you out!” Jessie’s voice said.

Very few things managed to coax the anger out of him, but what he saw just about did it. If it wasn’t anger, it was fear. Pure fear.

*****

Jessie muttered a threat and drew back the candlestick, having thrown the unlit candle against the wall a few moments earlier to alert the men of her need of assistance, and thrust it forward as hard as she could, sending it crashing into her attacker’s head. It was hard to put all of her strength into the blow, having to balance on her good leg without putting pressure on her other one, but she managed to put a good amount of force into it.

She had taken care of quite a few disturbances of the two-legged kind on many occasions with a slap or two, but she had never had to take care of herself when the other party had meant her harm. And seeing as to how the stranger had hid out in her room and come from the shadows, he meant her a great deal of harm.

The stranger groaned and, to her great surprise, fell to the ground. He rolled onto his back and held his head, his face hard to make out in the dim moonlight coming from the window.

Startled at her own strength, Jessie drew back the candlestick and hit him in the head again, letting out a little squeal as she did.

The man stilled and fear settled in Jessie’s stomach.

Did she kill him?

Taking a tiny step toward him, she leaned low and saw that his chest was still moving up and down. She let out a breath and backed up, dropping the candlestick in her hand.

“How in the world?” a voice said.

Jessie twisted, about to retrieve the candlestick from the floor when she recognized the face.

“Colt, thank goodness. That man snuck into my room and tried to… to… Well, he didn’t have honorable intentions. I declare, if I hadn’t had that candlestick I don’t know what I’d have done!” Jessie exclaimed.

Colt just stood there as if he didn’t even hear her words. “Did you kill him?”

Jessie shook her head. “I… I don’t think so.”

She was suddenly overcome with the belated fear that hadn’t struck her yet. She backed away and stared at the still figure on the floor.

“Don’t… Don’t let him wake back up, Colt,” she begged.

Colt snapped out of his shock and walked up to her. “He’s not gonna hurt you, Jessie. I promise.”

Jessie backed up until she collided into him. She forgot all about Adam and propriety. Right now, she was terrified. Turning around, she buried her face in his shirt and closed her eyes, trying to rid her mind of the fear. His arms circled around her and pulled her closer.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You knocked him out cold.”

“What happened here?” Doc’s voice asked.

Jessie didn’t lift her head, and Colt didn’t let go. She still trembled.

“Just get that man out of here, Dawson. If I do it, I’ll kill ‘im before I get him to the jail,” Colt said.

Jessie smiled at his words. She had to admit that it did her good for him to get defensive about her. He was a good friend, even though she had only known him a few days.

“Well, he looks familiar, doesn’t he?” Doc said.

Jessie picked her head up and looked up at Colt.

Colt looked over at the man on the floor and the glimpse of his face their view afforded.

“I should’a known,” he grumbled.

She watched as Doc hoisted the big man up onto his shoulder like the world’s heaviest sack of flour and walked toward the door. He stopped before leaving the room.

“Colt, um… I gotta know what to tell the guard to tell the Marshall,” he said.

Colt looked down at Jessie and let her go. She felt cold where his arms had been the moment before, and she rubbed her arms.

“Did he… um… touch you?” he rubbed the back of his neck and she saw through to his meaning.

“No,” Jessie answered quickly. “I think I scared him.”

Doc chuckled. “I’d been scared too if a woman came at me with - what was that - a candle stick?”

Jessie nodded. “They’re pretty handy.”

Doc left the room with the mind and Jessie relaxed. She recovered from her fear and looked across the room. “Can you get my crutches, Colt? They’re over there by the bed.”

Her good leg had grown tired from holding her up.

Colt retrieved her crutched and handed them to her before lighting a lamp and turning the wick up to fill the room with light.

“What I want to know is how a one-legged woman with a concussion managed to knock a big man like that out cold. You sure are stout for a little thing,” he smiled.

Jessie grinned. Little thing. She’d never been called that before.

She shrugged. “I guess that I’ve got a little more muscle to me than I let on.”

Colt laughed. “I’ll take that as a warning.”

“You better,” Jessie teased.

“You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “I feel fine. Just a little shook up, I guess.”

Colt nodded.

She sat on the edge of the bed and silence passed between them.

“I don’t belong here,” she blurted. “I’ve never had to deal with men like that back home. The most a man did was make a pointed comment. Even then my brother pummeled them nearly senseless. When he hears about this, he won’t let me leave the house without accompaniment again, and neither will Adam.” She shook her head. “I’m not cut out for the West. I don’t even know why I ended up out here. Maybe I grew desperate. I just wish I knew.”

“You’ll gain your memory back someday. You never know. As for men like that, they’re few and far between. Sure, there are some who make remarks and truly deserve to have their plow cleaned, but not many of them are willing to go this far because they fear the men in town,” Colt explained.

Jessie sighed. “I remembered something earlier. It was a conversation between my fiancé and someone. I couldn’t remember what the conversation was about or what I heard, just that one had occurred. It annoys me so much that I get that one little memory. It’s just enough to make me mad.”

“Just give it time,” Colt said in a low voice.

“Time,” Jessie shook her head. “I wish I knew what that was anymore. My head is so messed up. It seems like things that happened years ago happened yesterday and things that happened this morning occurred when I was a child. It’s so confusing.”

“Maybe when you get back home something will jar a memory,” Colt offered.

“But what if I had a reason for being here? What if it’s urgent? Someone’s life could be in danger and my stupid head won’t remember.” Jessie grew steadily agitated with herself.

“Hey,” Colt knelt in front of her on the floor, looking up at her. “That’s just your imagination. There’s no way of telling what you were here for. Maybe you’re stressing out too much and that prevents your brain from remembering. Just try to relax let life go. Stuff happens, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Jessie looked into his eyes and felt like he knew what he was talking about, as if he himself was trying to do that very thing.

Let life go.

That was easier said than done for a person like Jessie.

Do you guys think that I need to include pictures of Colt and Jessie and other characters or include more description? How do you feel about how I've described the characters? Just wondering! Thanks for reading and hope you have an awesome weekend!