Chapter 28

Colt stared at the house in front of him. It might as well be considered a mansion! There were two stories, and an abundance of windows on the second floor. How on earth did a family of four keep this whole place clean? Tall trees of stood on both side of the house, but didn’t seem to crowd behind the house. Maybe he should walk around to see if he could catch Jessie alone. He didn’t want her fiancé to know he was here before he had a chance to tell her why he was standing there.

He snuck back behind the house and what was behind the building stunned him even more than the front. The back entrance had a two-way brick staircase and a wide porch. A pond sat directly behind the house, giving it a more majestic feel.

However, there was no one outside.

Taking a deep breath of resignation, he walked back around to the front of the house and walked up the stairs to the white front door. With a shaking, nervous hand, he knocked on the door.

After a few moments, a short, brow haired woman who looked to be a few years older that Jessie answered the door, donned in a while apron and a plain navy dress.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

Colt took a moment to wrangle his thoughts.

“Does Jessie Steele live here?” he asked.

The woman eyed him suspiciously. “She does. Who’s asking?”

“I’m Colt Kidd.”

Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she smiled. “Oh! Why didn’t you say so? Come on inside. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?”

Colt didn’t enter the house but stood where he was. “No, thank you. I’d really like to see Miss Steele, if you don’t mind.”

The woman shook her head. “She ain’t here. She’s gone to the City Hall. I reckon you can hunt her down if you wanna.”

Colt nodded and tipped his hat to her. “Thank you, ma’am.”

The woman nodded and shot the door as Colt turned to leave. What would Jessie be doing at the City Hall? Would Adam be there? How would he react?

Colt shoved his hands in his pockets, the bag with Jessie’s dress in it hanging from his arm. He couldn’t afford to be nervous if Adam was around. There couldn’t be any inclination that he had feelings for Jessie, no matter how hard it was, he had to remain at a friendly distance and mind his manners.

The City Hall was overflowing with people when he arrived. How on earth would he find Jessie amid all this hullabaloo? Wagons and horses were everywhere around the entrance, and a slow song played from the inside.

Inching toward the door, Colt peered inside. The place was indeed a sight. Ribbons and banners hung from every surface, all in the colors white and pale blue. White tablecloths hung from the tables laden with punch and food, along with every pie known to man. There were so many people that Colt couldn’t see very well from his position.

Moving to the other side of the doorway, he looked past the cluster of people to the center of their attention. Ladies were gasping and smiling, putting gloved fingertips over their mouths as the men all guffawed and grinned from ear to ear. He’d never seen so many well-dressed people in his life. Something yellow caught his eye, then vanished. He took a step closer to the doorway and saw right to the dance floor. The band played their slow, harmonious song behind it while a couple danced alone in the center of the dance floor.

He recognized the man right away. Adam, the dreaded fiancé.

However, he wasn’t able to dwell on the man too long as that familiar sweet face came into view. She was a sight for sore eyes. Hardly recognizable with her hair all done up and a pretty glow all over her face, Jessie moved about the room with the elegance and grace that Colt had never had the privilege of seeing before. She wore a bright yellow dress, with all the ruffles and lace that she could possibly desire, and lace gloves that came up past her elbow. Her copper hair was pulled back away from her face in some fancy fashion, but Colt decided that he liked it best loose and free around her shoulders. Still, she had to be the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. Only then did he realize how much his heart ached for her. He had never felt any emotion with the intensity that he longed for Jessie Steele.

Adam’s arm pulled her a little closer, and his hand clasped around hers a little tighter. Even though Adam hadn’t seen him, Colt could still feel like he was claiming his property. It came to his realization that this was Jessie’s engagement ball.

His heart plummeted and his chest visibly heaved in disappointment.

This was the life she had chosen

This was the man she had chosen.

This was the love she had chosen.

*****

Colt walked back up the steps of the Steele home and knocked on the door again. A few moments later, the same brown-headed woman answered the door.

“You again? Didn’t you find her?” the woman asked.

Colt nodded. “I did. She was just… very busy… and… I didn’t want to interrupt her.”

The woman nodded.
“I’d like you to make sure this gets to her,” Colt gave her the back with the dress in it. “She left it back at my place.”

The woman nodded. “I’ll see to it.”

“Thank you, ma’am, “Colt tipped his hat and turned to leave.

“She talks about you,” the woman said. “All the time.”

A glimmer of a smile twitched on Colt’s lips as he looked back at her. “I think about her… all the time. I hope she’s happy.”

The woman nodded and gave a smile to him.

Colt walked away and forced himself not to look back.

Okay, so I trusted you with the outcome of this, Lord. It’s turned out this way, but I guess you’ve gotta bigger plan going on here. Help me have faith in it.

*****

Jessie smiled as Adam whirled her around the dance floor, staring into her eyes. This was where she was meant to be. In the circle of his arms for the rest of her life.

Sure, he had hid faults, but there wasn’t anything her love couldn’t look over. The crowd around her faded and they swayed to the soft music.

The song ended, and Adam released her. The rest of the couples flooded to the dance floor and a livelier tune began playing.

Jessie glanced at her fiancé. As much s she loved him, there was something that she had to get out of the way before anything went further.

“Will you come with me outside? I need some air,” she said to him as they made their way off the dance floor.

Adam nodded. “Sure. I could use some air myself.”

He took her arm and led her to the door, dodging people here and there.

Finally, they walked outside into the cool night air. Jessie shivered from the cold but kept walking.

“It’s a pretty night,” Adam said, looking up at the moon.

“Adam, I have to talk to you about something,” Jessie blurted.

Adam stopped walking. “What’s the matter?”

Jessie held her breath for a moment before speaking. “I don’t want you to think that I suspect you of anything, but there’s something that I have to hear from your lips so that I know the rumors aren’t true.”

“What rumors? Okay, so maybe I kicked the jail dog. He wouldn’t shut up, Jessie!” Adam rushed to say.

Jessie smiled softly. “This isn’t about the jail dog. I learned earlier today that I am to receive a rather large inheritance when my father sees fit to give it to me. Rumors around town are spreading… and I know that this is completely atrocious, but they say that my inheritance is the reason you’re marrying me. Tell me that isn’t true.”
Adam’s face turned bright red. “You would think that of me? After all I thought we were to each other?”

“I don’t think that of you, Adam. I just have to hear the words from your own lips,” Jessie explained.

“It’s preposterous. Of course I would never take advantage of you like that. Have I not proved my love for you? I walked pointlessly around that desert for weeks before finding you while your family sat at home doing nothing,” Adam declared.

Jessie felt her own anger rising. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, keeping her composure as her mother had taught her. “Don’t feed me that lie again, Adam. I know good and well that you were not alone out in that desert,” she said calmly, smoothing out her skirts.

“What do you mean? Didn’t I tell you…?”

“You told me a good many things, Adam. A good many things. However, I’m questioning your ability to tell the truth in these instances,” Jessie said.

“What are you talking about, woman?” Adam’s eyebrows pulled close together.

“I’m talking about you belittling my family’s efforts to find me. I’m talking about those tales of loneliness. I’m talking about when you said you loved me. These are merely a few times your character has been mussed by your artful ability to twist words and circumstances to mean what you wish them to mean.”

“Stop talking in riddles, Jessie,” Adam crossed his arms over his chest, looking down his nose at her.

Jessie lifted her chin a notch. “Fine. I’ll put it into small words so you’ll understand. You’re a liar. You’re too yellow to own up to your own faults. I’ve tried to look these things over but no more. No, I’m done with your ways, at least for tonight or until I can trust you again.”

Jessie turned to leave.

“This is about that cowboy, ain’t it?” Adam shot after her.

He said the words with so much assumption and sarcasm that it boiled her blood, turning her heart toward him stone cold. To think she had only a few moments before allowed his man to touch her.

She whirled around to face him. “Colt has nothing to do with this. The fact that you keep bringing him up in every conversation and making an argument out of him proves that you don’t trust me. I don’t trust you, either so this will never work. The engagement is off.”

She couldn’t believe the words were coming out of her mouth, but there they were. She was taken aback for a moment, and then stood a little taller.

“Off? What do you mean by that?” Adam’s voice grew a little shaky.

“I mean as in no more, relinquished, gone, non-existent. You can come up with the rest from there,” Jessie turned and began walking away.

“You can’t leave! What about the people in there? What do I tell them?” Adam asked.

“Come up with another lie, Adam. You’re good at those,” Jessie threw over her shoulder.

Adam huffed and mumbled something under his breath.

As Jessie walked away from the City Hall, holding her skirts off the ground, what she had done began to become real to her. She had dissolved the engagement.

But… she loved him, right?

She needed him as much as he needed her.

She turned and began walking back to the City Hall. Then, she stopped.

She looked up at the full moon, tears in her eyes, confused and longing for answers.

“What have I done, Lord? I’m so confused. Why am I being so unforgiving? Did I do the right thing?” She asked aloud.

She thought of Adam, then she thought of Colt.

It was clear who made her happier.

*****

Colt walked up to the desk in the hotel and looked around the place. It was finer than any hotel in Plateau. He had scrubbed his boots several times before entering the place yet he still felt dirty when surrounded by all the finery.

“Can I help you, sir?” the clerk asked, his rich Southern accent soothing Colt’s nerves.

“Yes, I’d like a room,” Colt replied.

“Sign here,” the clerk motioned to a book in front of him.

Colt signed his name in the book.

“How long are you gonna be needing it?” the clerk asked.

“Just one night,” Colt said.

Just one, long night.