Chapter 18

Colt downed the rest of his coffee, thankful for Grace’s brew once again. He was getting sick of his own coffee so much he could hardly drink an entire cup full.

“You heading off, Colt?” Grace asked as Colt put his empty cup in the dishwater.

“Yeah, I’ve gotta… gotta start on that project today,” Colt nearly groaned.

“Oh,” Grace gave a knowing nod. “How are you doing?”

Colt shrugged. “Fine. It’s just a little awkward right now. I’ll get over it.”

He sounded more confident than he actually was. It felt more like he was in some fog and he couldn’t get out no matter how hard he tried. He was way beyond just feeling awkward.

They heard the front door opened and a masculine laugh echoed down the hallway, followed by a female voice.

“Would you stop that?” It said.

Colt recognized that voice immediately. He looked at Grace in a panic and bolted for the back door. He waved briefly and managed to clear out before the couple appeared in the kitchen. He heaved a sigh of relief and walked toward where his horse was standing, still saddled and ready to ride.

He double-checked the cinch and made sure everything was as it should be before walking into the bunkhouse where his office was. Several cowboys waited for him in the back room around his desk, watching anxiously for him to show up so they could get to work.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting,” he apologized.

Some of the men shrugged and others grunted.

“I figured that we ought to get some things straightened out before we start on this job.” Colt rounded his desk as he spoke. “The rules are as before when you were working normally on this ranch. I’m your boss just the same as Sherman Cooper is. My word is law, and if you have a different opinion, I expect you to present it with respect in a calm fashion. I’ve done the math and I’ve decided that you all will get paid at the end of every week, because we don’t really know how long this will take. Does that suit everyone?”

The men all nodded.

“Good. Now everyone go get your mounts and meet me out there in half an hour,” Colt said.

The men left the room and Colt sighed. This was it. He was actually going through with this.

*****

“Inheritance? Jessie has nothing of the sort!” Myra couldn’t believe the words coming out of her husband’s mouth.

“I kept it a secret so things like this wouldn’t happen,” Jacob shuffled his feet, the morning sun lighting his graying hair and illuminating the regret on his face.

“I don’t understand, Jacob. Where did this inheritance come from?”

Jacob rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “My aunt left it to her.”

Myra narrowed her eyes into slits. “Jessie was only three when your aunt died. Why didn’t she leave it to Jake?”

“Because you know how she was. She wanted her wealth to go to a woman,” Jacob explained, his tone hinting that he did not cherish the memory of his relative.

“And you kept it from us. Why? How does Jake know about it and not Jessie and me?” Myra asked him.

“The whole town knows, Momma,” Jake explained.

Myra shot a glare at her husband.

“Would you sit down?” Jacob said, getting flustered with their son.

“The whole town? This makes no sense to me, Jacob,” Myra felt herself growing angry.

Why hadn’t her husband trusted her with the knowledge of the inheritance? Had she not proved herself faithful to keep a secret on more than one occasion? What good was she if her own husband didn’t trust her?

“I tried to keep the whole inheritance thing a secret from everyone because I was afraid of what would happen. If some young buck wandered into town and heard of our daughter as an heiress, then what would happen? There are some sick people in this world, Myra,” Jacob tried to explain.

Myra was beginning to see his reasons, but they still confused her.

“But me? Your wife? You didn’t trust me?”

“I do trust you, I just… I just didn’t think about people’s characters and kept it from everyone,” Jacob crossed his arms as he spoke.

“Then how did the word get out?”

“I have no idea. One morning I was walking to the bank and overheard two women talking about Jessie and her inheritance, saying awful things about her. It was nearly enough to anger me, but I kept walking. I have no idea how it got out, but now everyone around town knows.”

“Yet I’m just finding out. This is so confusing.” Myra rubbed her forehead. She looked over at Jake. “What do you think Adam has to do with this?”

Jake shrugged. “It was just a thought.”

“You think he… he…” Myra’s hand flew to her heart. “He’s not that kind of man.”

“How do you know, Myra?” Jacob asked.

Myra sputtered a moment. “I’m not sure, but I think Jessie is a better judge of character than that. He made us all believe that he loved her.”

Suddenly, the sound of approaching hoof beats echoed through their campfire a few seconds before a rider came into view.

Myra simply stared.

“The town get boring, did it, Adam?” Jacob asked, pouring the leftover coffee over the flames of their campfire.

Adam hopped off his horse and looked at the three of them. “You three are about the silliest bunch I’ve ever seen. Do you even know where you’re going?”

“We know exactly where we’re going, young man,” Jacob addressed him. “Why are you here hindering us?”

“I’m not about to let the three of you go traipsing off all over the country alone. It’s absolutely ridiculous, but it appears that I have no choice if I value your safety.” Adam brushed the dust from the thigh of his left pant leg.

“We’d get along fine,” Jake piped up.

“We’re not going to test that statement. I’m coming with, and none of you can stop me,” Adam said as he jerked his chin up a notch.

Myra growled on the inside. She was having doubts about this man’s motives now, and there would be no trusting him until he proved to the three of them that he still loved Jess.

It would be a long, long ride ahead of them.

*****

Jessie jerked awake and lifted her head up from the table as the sound of Worthless’ barking lulled from her sleep. She hadn’t realized how tired she was as she waited up for Colt to return. Glancing down at the table, Jessie gasped.

She didn’t drool in her sleep!
Surely not!

The sheer horror of the thought caused her to cover the wet spot with a towel as if it were a dead rodent.

A lady did not drool.

Momma would be horrified!

She was horrified!

“Please, Worthless. I’m begging out to quit yer yappin’.” The door opened as Colt’s voice drifted inside.

Jessie rubbed her eyes and pinched her cheeks quicker than Colt could shut the door behind him.

He sank against the wooden slab of the door, not knowing of her presence, and groaned.

He looked as if his legs were too tired to hold him up much longer.

His hat covered his face, but his worn body was enough to tell of his fatigue.

“Colt?” she spoke up.

He immediately straightened, lifting his hat from his head and placing it on the hat rack.

“What are you still doing up?” His voice was much chipper than his body looked.

“I was waiting for you, but I think I fell asleep,” she answered him.

“It’s too late. You should’ve gone to bed,” Colt said with a yawn.

“I kept some coffee warm, just incase you wanted some,” Jessie disregarded his reprimand with her words.

“Thank you very much, but I think I’ll…” another yawn interrupted his sentence, “…I’ll just go to bed.”

Jessie nodded and took up her crutches. “Very well. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Colt smiled weakly. “Goodnight.”

Lines of fatigue etched his handsome face, making him appear a few years older, and his normally vibrant pale blue eyes had turned dull. Jessie wished he didn’t have to work so hard to earn a living while her father sat behind a desk all day and made more than Colt ever did.

“Goodnight,” she whispered as she made her way to her room.

She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, feeling guilty of her privileged life. Colt was more deserving of a better life than she was. He had a much kinder heart than she, and would probably be much more grateful.

Lord, help me to never take my life for granted or utter one complaint about it again. Help me to remember how Colt lives and see how much I am blessed.

*****

Colt hammered the nail as hard as he could into the wooden slab, thinking of the injustice of it all. In three days, he and his men had laid the foundation of Bliss’ home. They worked hard from sunup to sunset, and it was beginning to take its toll on him. Now, after a week of hard work, they were laying the floor throughout the entire house.

He knew that he should be grateful for work, and he was, but building a house for those two lovebirds was just about more than he could handle. He hadn’t seen one of them alone since they got back from their honeymoon.

Talk about grating on a man’s nerves!

As if it weren’t enough that one of the lovebirds be Bliss, they had to always giggle and act so happy with each other.

Maybe it would make him feel better if she were unhappy.

Colt shook his head. That was no way to think. He ought to be glad that Bliss had found someone whom she could be truly happy with, and apparently Clint was that person.

Directing his thoughts elsewhere, Colt thought of Jessie. She waited up for him every night, even with his constant complaining about it. She always had half a pot of coffee on the stove waiting for him, and sometimes she would share a cup with him if he arrived earlier than usual. She would share about her day and he would tell about his. Both were equally boring, but that didn’t seem to matter. As long as they both carried on the conversation, they could keep it up for hours.

Maybe it was just because Jessie was an easy person to talk to. She never interrupted him, and she always genuinely listened. Somehow it made his seem less tired when they would stay up for a few minutes and talk. Sure, it was probably pushing the boundaries of propriety since his grandmother had gone to bed, but she didn’t seem to mind, so why should he?

Besides, what was a conversation between two friends?

He entered the shack later that night, trying to get Worthless to shut his barking mouth. He’d tried everything from petting him to bribing him with a bone, but he would bark around them.

Giving up and shutting the door with a grumble, Colt rubbed his eyes and turned around.

Jessie sat with her head on the table, her crutched leaned against the table and a book in her hand. He smiled and walked over to her, careful not to let his boots make a noise.

He placed his hat on the table and shook her arms gently.

She didn’t budge.

Not having the heart to press her further, he put one arm under her knees and another around her shoulders and lifted her out of the chair, her book falling to the table. Colt looked down and noticed that it was a Bible. He smiled, thankful yet again that Jessie was a believer. They had talked many times about faith and it was amazing to him how her eyes lit up when talking about God. He’d always hoped that his did the same.

He walked her to his room and laid her on the bed. She sighed as she adjusted to her new position in her sleep. He removed his arms out from under her, but as his left hand moved beneath her cheek, she snuggled against it and sighed.

His heart softened for a moment.

Her other arm moved to lay over her stomach as it normally did in an effort to conceal the slight bulge there, and Colt’s eyebrows drew close together. He began to see who Jessie Steele really was.

Beneath all of her efforts of trying to be the perfect lady, she was just a girl who needed reassurance of her insecurities. Just a girl who needed to realize how beautiful she was.

Dun dun dun. Sorry to keep you all waiting... I had *issues* at the first. Ugh...

Anyway! Let me know what you guys thought!