Chapter 17

Colt collapsed onto the hard floor and forced his eyes to stay open. Granny had left for bed right after Jessie, leaving him alone in the room. He squeezed the leather bound journal in his hands and reached for the pencil in the pocket of his work shirt.

Opening the book to reveal the pages inside, most filled with the scratching from his pencil, until he found a blank page.

I swear it’s like a wildfire in my mind today. What am I supposed to do with a woman I hardly know for two weeks under my roof? She doesn’t even know why she’s here, but I guess that doesn’t really matter. The problem is that she’s here and she needs to go back home. How in the name of everything sensible am I supposed to do that? I have no idea who her family is apart from their names. The telegraph lines will be down for two weeks at the least, so I have until then to think up something to tell them. I’ve got to find some way to assure them that I took care of her and that I didn’t do anything to cause her pain. More importantly, I’ve got to find out why she even ended up here in Arizona from South Carolina in the first place. On top of all of that, I’ve got to hide her from Sherman as long as possible.

This entry is probably one big complaint, but there must be some way to figure all of this out.

Colt put his pencil down and leaned his head against the wall. He was so tired that he wasn’t making sense even to himself.

Closing the book, he set it aside and hid it under the pillow on the floor. He lay down and covered himself with a blanket, trying to ward off the chill even with a fire blazing in the stove.

Something good would come out of this. Something that he couldn’t see at the moment would have to happen in order to make this whole endeavor worthwhile.

With that thought, he drifted off to sleep and the blissful ignorance of his current trials that awaited him there.

*****

Jessie rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times as the morning sun shone through the window beside her bed. She wanted nothing more than to lie in bed all day, but she knew that she had to get up and make herself useful. If this was her home for two weeks at the least, then she would make the most of it. Colt and Carby wouldn’t be sorry that they let her stay with them.

Sitting up, Jessie stretched and reached for her crutches. Making her way to the mirror on the other side of the room, she looked at the wound on her head, and found that it was mostly healed over. She smiled slightly. For some reason, having the gash on her head healed up made her feel closer to recovery. If only she didn’t have a bum leg.

Heaving a sigh, she dressed herself in her blue dress, slightly put-off again by it’s absent ruffles. Since that was nothing to be helped, she shrugged it off and went about coming her hair and putting it into a braid at the side of her head. She hummed as she weaved the three strands to make one, her fingers moving on there own from years of braiding her hair.

She donned her shoes and stockings before exiting the room, her crutches making clicking sounds against the floor.

The front room was empty, but Colt’s blanket was carefully folded in the corner of the room. Surely he hadn’t left for work already.

She looked out of the window and saw him on the front porch, sitting on the steps with a coffee cup in his hand and Worthless lying beside him. Glancing toward Carby’s room, she found the door still closed and assumed that she was still sleeping.

Jessie opened the front door and walked out onto the front porch.

Colt turned to look at her, and a slight smile appeared on his face.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” she replied. “Are you out here all by your lonesome?”

Colt patted Worthless’ head. “I’ve got Worthless here. He’s not as annoying when he’s not barking.”

Jessie smiled and sat in the wicker chair beside the door, leaning her crutches against her legs.

The big dog, which looked more like a German Shepherd, wagged his tail and panted softly, looking up at Colt.

“Is Carby still sleeping?” Jessie asked.

Colt nodded. “No telling what all she did to tire herself while we were gone.”

“What makes her so independent?” Jessie asked.

“I have no idea. My granddaddy was a gold miner and loved to travel places, so I guess he rubbed off on her. She wasn’t this way when my daddy was a boy,” Colt answered.

“Think you can keep her here?”

Colt chuckled. “No. She’ll leave when she really wants to, and I’ll have to follow her. She’s as stubborn as they come, and I’m not, so that makes for a bad team.”

Jessie shook her head slightly. She knew all to well how stubborn Colt could be. Hadn’t he insisted that he pay for her doctor’s visit and demanded for her to not pay him back? Yes, Colt Kidd was stubborn when he wanted to be.

“The morning that I found you,” Colt went on, “I had convinced her that she didn’t need to go to California yet. Told her I’d go with her someday, but I don’t know if I can make that happen or not.”

“California? I declare…”

“I know it. Once she gets an idea in her head, she won’t stop until it materializes. Daddy thought I could be the one to talk her out of things, since I’m the one she listens to the most out of all the grandkids, but I’ve got a ranch to keep going for Sherman. I don’t really have the time to make sure she stays home.” Colt glanced up at her. “I don’t want it to sound like I’m complaining, though. I love her, ya know. I don’t think anyone could have a better granny.”

Jessie smiled. “I know you do. It’s hard to have a family member like that. A friend of mine had a little sister that she tried her best to keep from heading to London for some reason. She claimed that it was to further her education, but my friend didn’t believe her. Eventually, she squeezed so hard that her sister slipped between her fingers.”

“What do you mean?” Colt asked.

“Her sister snuck off in the middle of the night while everyone was sleeping. She’ll send a letter every once in a while to her parents, but she hasn’t spoken or written to my friend in two years. This might sound dumb, but maybe if you let your grandmother go a little, she’d settle down a little bit. Maybe you can take her on a trip to California sometime.”

“I wish I could,” Colt sighed. “Sherman would never let me off work to go.”

Jessie huffed. “Seems like that man wants to keep you there all the time.”

Colt shrugged. “He’s just an old man who thinks he knows what’s best. You get used to him. What does your daddy do for a living?”

Jessie narrowed her eyes at how quickly he changed the subject. “He runs the bank in Myrtleville.”

Colt’s eyes widened as he nodded. “He’s a bigwig, huh?”

Jessie didn’t know how to take that comment. “I guess you could say that.”

“That’s good. To be honest, I never would have guessed it by looking at you. Usually rich people don’t abide with cowboys and drovers like myself,” Colt set his empty cup beside him on the porch.

“Well, you did kinda save my life, so that would be kind of incredulous,” Jessie smiled.

Colt’s eyebrows drew close together. “Incredi- what?”

“Hard to believe,” Jessie translated.

“Oh,” Colt nodded.

There was a brief moment of silence.

“Is there any way I can make myself useful around here?” Jessie asked.

“Why would you want to do that?” Colt asked.

“Well, since y’all are stuck with me I suppose I might as well help out. I’m not sure there’s anything a crippled girl could do, though,” Jessie commented.

“That’s something that you’ll have to ask Granny. I’d be careful, though. There’s no telling what she’ll have you doing now that you got a good night’s sleep.”

Jessie laughed. “I’m tough.”

Another brief moment of silence passed before Colt hastily jumped to his feet. “I’m gonna be late.”

He rushed into the house and grabbed his hat. He stepped back onto the porch and noticed the coffee cup he had left on the ground. He picked it up and threw it toward the washbowl from the doorway. From the loud clang and a brief fist-pump from Colt, Jessie gathered that it reached its destination.

He took off toward the lean-to that he kept his horse in, slamming his hat on his head as he went.

“Have a good day!” Jessie called after him.

Colt came out a few minutes later with a saddled horse.

“You too,” he tipped his hat and directed his horse in the direction of the ranch.

Jessie watched until he was out of sight, and then sighed as she returned to the house. Everything seemed so strange without Colt around. She didn’t really know why, but maybe it was because of his steadying presence. Whatever it was, she had to get used to getting through life out here on her own with Carby.

*****

Myra drank deeply of the warm, bitter coffee that her husband had made, longing desperately from warmth to ward off the January chill. Jake sat across from her, running his finger around the rim of his cup but not consuming any of the warm liquid.

“Something on your mind, Jake?” she asked.

Her son lifted his head and looked at her. “It’s just Adam. Why do you think he completely gave up? Even if she was… ya know… like he feared, wouldn’t he want her body to bury properly?”

Myra tried not to look into what his words implied. In all honesty, she was thinking the exact same thing. She glanced at her husband, but neither of them seemed to have an answer.

“I don’t know, but we’ll find her,” Myra said determinedly.

“How do you know that, Momma?” Jake asked.

“Because we have something no one else has had the decency to keep, and that’s hope,” Myra stated firmly.

“Jessie’s a Steele, and Steeles are strong,” Jacob added.

Myra nodded her agreement. “We refuse to give up now, and we won’t stop until she is found.”

Jacob’s jaw muscle flinched. “No matter how brave or strong we are, there will always be people who are more selfish who are out to get what Jessie’s got.”

“Jake,” her husband’s voice took on a warning tone.

“What do you mean, ‘what Jessie’s got’?” Myra asked in a pressing manner.

Jake looked over at his father. “You didn’t tell Momma?”

Jacob sent a glare his way.

“Oh,” Jake ran his finger once around the rim of his cup. “Guess you’re in for it now.”

“Jacob, what are you keeping from me?” Myra demanded.

Her husband’s eyes looked up and connected with her. Myra knew that his next words weren’t going to be pleasant for her to hear.

Boom. Cliffy! Eh, you know I love you guys! :D Thanks for reading! Means literally the world to me! Like, you don't even know!!