Jesse

by Barbara Goss

  “Roy Barkley? I don’t get the connection.”

  “Roy’s wife, Gwen, is Delia’s sister. I didn’t know that until last night. The night I met Delia, I was sitting with Roy, Sean, and Mac, and Roy never let on that he knew Delia. This was all a planned trap.”

  Charlie believed him, but she had a few questions. “Why would she have picked you?”

  “Sean had your sister arriving, Mac is married, so that left me. I’m sure Roy told her I had property… and money, too.”

  “Do you have a lot of money?”

  “They must think I do. I made good money as a bounty hunter, and I rarely spent any of it, so I’m not rich, but I am financially secure.”

  Charlie smiled for the first time that day. “So, that’s why Delia called on me yesterday.” She shook her head and smiled. “Sean told me that none of it was true, and he vouched for you, but some of the things Delia said were hard to dismiss.”

  Jesse started to pack up the lunch.

  “Wait!” Charlie said. “I think I’ll have that sandwich now.”

  Jesse handed her the sandwich. “I’m glad you’ve regained your appetite. Now, tell me what lies Delia told about me.”

  Between bites she said, “Um... that you and she had... um... you know.” Then, she added, “That you’ve done the same with other saloon women. I think she was warning me against traveling with you. Sean talked some sense into me, though.”

  That made Jesse smile. “That’s an enormous compliment because Sean and I have only been friends for a year and a half. I met him at a horse show in Sterling’s Mill. When we returned to Sunset Creek, he invited me to his monthly night out with his two friends, Roy and Mac. Sean and Mac ran ranches, so it was hard to get together more than that. I liked both Roy and Mac, and I had no clue what Roy was planning or for how long he’d planned it. He and I have a score to settle when I get back.”

  Charlie smiled at him. “I’m ready,” she said as she helped him pack up the lunch. “How do you know where we’ll stop for supper?”

  He pulled a pocket watch from his pants pocket. “I’d say we'll have reached Pike's Stream about the time the sun sets, and we’ll bed down there for the night. It’s a suitable spot. I’ll try to shoot us something hot to eat, but if I don’t we still have beans and biscuits.”

  They mounted their horses and continued traveling.

  Once they’d set up camp at Pike’s Stream, Jesse took his shotgun and headed for the nearby woods. Meanwhile, Charlie spread out the bedrolls and gathered wood for their fire. She put the fire pit between the two bedrolls. She trusted Jesse but thought it best to be proper and cautious.

  Charlie jumped when she heard a gunshot, but then she smiled—they’d have a hot dinner. She took the flint that Jesse had given her, lit the fire, and had it going fairly well when Jesse came back, proudly holding a wild rabbit by the ears.

  “Hasenpfeffer,” he said. “Well, without the stew, that is.” He took out his knife and cleaned the rabbit on a nearby tree stump. “Charlie, try to find us a nice-sized twig to use as a spit for the meat.”

  Charlie went to the edge of the woods, picked up several sticks, and brought them back to show Jesse. “Which one will work best?”

  He studied each of them and chose one. “This one is perfect.”

  They took turns holding the rabbit meat over the fire until it had turned brown.

  “Is it done?” Charlie asked.

  “It might be, but it’s safer to let it get even darker.” Jesse wiggled the leg of the rabbit. “Nope, not done yet. When I can wiggle a leg and it starts to fall off, it’s done.”

  While they ate, Charlie thought about getting to Cheyenne and going back to New York, which saddened her. She’d never cooked over a fire or eaten wild game in New York. She loved her life here, and she didn’t want to leave.

  She helped Jesse clean up after the meal. He took the remaining rabbit meat, and laid it on a clean cloth napkin, poured salt over it, and wrapped it up. He put the sack in his saddlebag. “That’s tomorrow’s supper.”

  Charlie said, “I’m learning a lot. What do we do next?”

  “Now, we sit around the fire and tell stories. Then, we each go off, take care of our personal needs, and go to sleep.”

  Once they were seated by the fire, Charlie moved closer to Jesse. “I don’t want to go back to New York.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Now’s a nice time to make that decision. You should have talked this over with your sister and Sean. I’m bound by my word to get you to Cheyenne, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

  “Well,” she said, “you can do that, but I won’t get on the train. I’ll find some way back to Sunset Creek... or maybe I’ll go to Sterling’s Mill and get a job in one of the saloons.”

  Jesse gave her a stern look. “You will not!”

  “I’m not going back home.”

  Jesse snapped, “Yes, you are, and I’ll stay in Cheyenne and watch you get on the train, and wait until it leaves.”

  She wasn’t sure if it was the tone of his voice, the cross look on his face, or what he’d said, but she felt herself begin to choke up. Charlie blinked as rapidly as she could, but before she could control it, she burst out crying.

  Jesse hadn’t realized how fierce he must have sounded, and he felt bad that he’d been so hard on the woman. He put his arm around her shoulders and tried to comfort her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come on so strong, but I am a man of my word, and I did promise Sean I’d deliver you to the train. Please, don’t cry.”

  His words reduced her crying to small sobs. “Please, don’t make me go home,” she cried.

  She looked up at him as she pleaded and his heart felt like it was melting. What was he to do? What else could he do but take her to the train in Cheyenne? He hated to be a bear, but a promise is a promise.

  He held her tighter with the hope of stilling her crying. “Let me sleep on this... maybe tomorrow I can think of a way to make everyone happy.” He let her go and helped her stand. While walking her to her bedroll, he patted her back. “I promise to come up with a solution. Now, stop crying and get a good night’s sleep.”

  They went off in different directions to take care of their personal needs and met back at Charlie’s bedroll.

  “Good night, Charlie,” he whispered as she settled into her bedroll.

  She turned toward him and said, “Remember your promise, Jesse. Goodnight.”

  Long after he'd heard Charlie’s soft, rhythmic breathing, he tossed in his bedroll. How was he going to make everyone happy, and why had he promised to find a solution? He had none, yet he felt like an ogre, forcing her to do something he knew she hated doing, and he couldn’t come up with a thing to make everyone happy. He kept tossing, and suddenly, one solution popped into his head. Like it or not, it was the only way.

  Chapter Nine

  Roy shook his index finger at Delia. “This is all your fault.”

  “My fault?” She pointed her finger back at him. “You barged in too soon. I’d have had him in bed in no time. It’s your fault.”

  Sighing, Roy sat down on the settee and said, “What are we to do now?”

  “You could rob the bank and leave me alone,” Delia said with hands on hips. “Or, go ahead and tell the sheriff. I killed Mr. Hackett, but it was self-defense.”

  “I don’t have what it takes to walk into a bank and rob it, all right?”

  “But you do have the nerve to kill a friend for his money. Ha!” she laughed. “I don’t understand you at all, Roy.”

  “It’s different,” Roy said. “No one would see me, and I’d make it look like an accident.”

  Delia sighed, “And now I’m stuck working in a saloon having men pawing at me every night, just so you could pull off this dumb plan. I wish I’d never have come out to Wyoming. I came because I missed my sister—a sister who’s no longer the same person since she married you.”

  Roy played with his hands nervously
. “I just know Jesse Morgan has a lot of money. That old geyser who left him the property also left him a bundle.”

  “He had to build the house, so there might not be much money left,” Delia pointed out.

  “I bet he has every penny of the bounties he’s collected, too.”

  Delia sighed. “How can you possibly know that?”

  “Well,” Roy said, “It’s a moot point now since you blew it. He’ll never let you near him again. Did you tell the other woman what a womanizer he is?”

  “Yes, I told Charlie.”

  “Do you think she believed you?”

  Delia threw up her arms. “I don’t know, Roy. How could I tell?”

  “We need another plan,” he said, rubbing his forehead.

  “Just rob the bank and be done with it. I don’t like being in on a plan that entails killing someone. I’m relieved the plan failed because I just couldn’t stand by and let you kill Jesse.”

  “It was going to be an accident. I’d mess with his saddle or something.”

  “No.” Delia walked to the door and opened it. “Rob the bank and I’ll drive the get-away buggy.”

  Roy walked to the door. “I want his money, but I want to get it legally.”

  “Just rob the darned bank. I’m sure his money is in there and you’ll get it that way,” Delia said.

  “Wait!” Roy said. “I know a teller at the bank. Tom Hutchinson. I’ll find out how much Jesse has, and we’ll go from there.”

  “I can’t tell you how much money a client of the bank has,” Hutchinson said. “That’s personal information, and I could lose my job.”

  “Who would know?” Roy slipped a few coins into Tom Hutchinson’s palm. “Just this once.”

  Tom sighed. “Who’s the client?”

  “Jesse Morgan.”

  Tom scratched his head. “Wait—he doesn't have an account at the bank. I don’t even know the man.”

  Roy held his hand out. “I want my coins back.”

  Tom gave him back his coins.

  Delia opened the door to see Roy standing there. “Now, what?”

  “I just found out that Morgan doesn’t have a bank account.”

  Delia shrugged. “So what? Maybe he spent all his money on the house.”

  “No, I think he’s one of those ‘under the mattress’ bankers.”

  “And?” Delia said.

  “And we’re going to rob his house while he’s away, and you’ll be my look-out.”

  “What’s a look-out?” Delia asked.

  “You stay outside the house and alert me if someone comes around while I look for the money,” Roy explained.

  “If they went to Cheyenne, Jesse will be gone for a few weeks.”

  “Yes, but he has that friend of his living nearby, and he might be watching the place.”

  Delia sighed. “All right. I’ll be your watchdog.”

  Delia sat on her horse near where she and Jesse had picnicked while Roy pried open a window at the back of the house. He’d just about gotten it open when Delia rode past him and said, “Someone’s coming on horseback through the field.”

  “Drat!” Roy jumped on the horse behind Delia, and they rode away. As they rode, Roy asked, “Do you think whoever it was saw us?”

  Delia shrugged. “It was a man, and I’m not sure if he saw us or not.”

  “Maybe Jesse has someone checking his home in the mornings. We’ll try again just before dark,” Roy said.

  Just before the sun had set, Roy and Delia rode double to Jesse’s house. Delia sat on the horse and watched in case someone came while Roy climbed into the window and looked for Jesse’s money.

  Jesse woke first and built a fire. He rolled up his bedding and made some coffee in a frying pan. He threw the ground coffee beans into the boiling water and saw Charlie stir.

  “Hmm,” she said, “is that coffee I smell?” She sat up and smiled at Jesse.

  Jesse laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “Your hair is sticking up, and it looks like a rooster’s tail.”

  Charlie patted down her short blonde hair. “I’m not used to short hair. I used to braid my hair before bed.” She rolled up her bedding. “Do you mind if I bathe in the stream?”

  “No, but don’t go too far from camp. If you go just around those trees, no one will see you, including me. When you’re done, I’ll take a swim, too.”

  Charlie took some clean clothes from her duffel bag. “When I’m done, I want some of that coffee.” She marched off to where Jesse had instructed.

  Jesse took the tin cups and a table knife from his saddlebag. He held the knife over the frying pan in such a way as to hold back the coffee grounds as he poured it into their cups so they each had a groundless cup of coffee. He then wiped the frying pan clean, fried some bacon, and opened a can of beans. He wished he had some eggs.

  Charlie came back with wet hair and a rosier complexion than usual. “The water was wonderful. It was chilly but invigorating."

  Jesse handed her a cup of coffee. “I don’t have cream or sugar.”

  Charlie shrugged. “This is roughing it, so I don’t mind. That bacon smells heavenly.”

  “Sorry I don’t have eggs and toast.”

  “Next time.” She laughed.

  Jess was relieved that Charlie was so easy to get along with and so easy to please. Most women would be complaining about the roughness.

  As Jesse put their food on the plates, Charlie said, “Last night you said you’d have a solution to our problem... or rather, my problem.”

  “Eat your breakfast first, Charlie. After my swim, we’ll talk before we hit the trail again.”

  “Why not now?”

  “I need time to think of how I’ll word my idea, is all. Now, eat.”

  After they’d eaten, Charlie offered to clean the dishes while Jesse bathed. She picked a place by the stream where they were both hidden from one another. When she had everything clean and packed away, she sat down on a nearby log with her elbows on her knees, and her head resting in her hands as she thought. She wondered what Jesse’s solution would be? She couldn’t think of any way she might prevent getting on a train in Cheyenne.

  She looked up quickly when he approached. “You have everything cleaned up. Thank you,” he said. Jesse must have shaved in the stream because his face was smooth. He set about packing his shaving brush and razor into his small traveling bag. When he was done, he sat on the log beside her.

  “You smell divine,” she said.

  “It’s my shaving cream,” he said.

  “I love a clean-shaven man.”

  “I’ve had beards and mustaches on and off for years. I find them itchy and irritating.”

  “Enough small talk,” Charlie said. “What’s the solution to my problem?”

  “You probably won’t like it, and I’m not so sure I can go through with it either, but it’s all I have.”

  “What?”

  Jesse fiddled with his fingers as if he were building up the nerve to tell her his solution.

  “C’mon, Jesse—tell me. My life depends on this.”

  Jesse sighed. “All right, but if you find the solution offensive, just say so. You won’t insult me at all.”

  “Go on.”

  “My solution is... you stay in Sunset Creek.” He watched her face turn from anxious to curious. “You’ll live with me at my house.”

  She felt her eyebrows rise.

  He continued, “We could get married.”

  Chapter Ten

  Charlie wasn’t sure she'd heard Jesse right since he’d spoken so softly. She could tell he was unsure of her reaction and had been almost afraid to say, “We could get married.”

  She knew by the way he was twisting his fingers that he was nervous about her answer. She thought about making him wait longer for her reply, but she was too excited.

  “Yes! That’s a wonderful solution.”

  “You like it?” he asked.

 
“Well, I do have a few questions: what about love? We aren’t in love. What kind of marriage would that be in the eyes of God?”

  “God?”

  “I’m a church-going believer, Jesse. I love the idea, but I don’t think it would be right in God’s eyes for two reasons: we aren’t in love, and you aren’t a believer. The Bible tells us not to marry unbelievers. It’s called being unequally yoked.”

  “I see,” he said. “Then, I guess we don’t have a solution. I’ll have to put you on the train to New York.”

  “Wait,” Charlie said. “You could help me solve the things standing in our way. It’s worth a try because it’s a wonderful idea.”

  “All right. What do we do?” he asked.

  “You like me well enough to marry me, right?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I like you enough.”

  “Do you agree that like could eventually turn into love?”

  “I suppose it could,” he agreed.

  “Now, all we need is for you to start going to church with me and believing.”

  “Let me get this straight,” he said. “Our like will eventually turn to love, and I need to believe and go to church?” When she nodded, he said, “So, when does all this have to happen?”

  “Hmm,” she said. “I haven’t thought this through enough. It would have to happen now for me to cancel my trip to New York. We could turn back and get married at Sterling’s Mill.”

  “What about the love and believing part?” Jesse asked.

  “We’ll just do things a tad backward, is all. I’ll clear it with God.” She looked up at him. “I like you so much that I know it will turn to love before long.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “The church allows for annulments, though they are rare. It will cost money in legal fees, but if we find out we’ve made a mistake, we could do that as long as we don’t consummate the marriage, and we can’t do that without love, anyway.”

  He looked confused.