by Barbara Goss
“No. It’s outside. Come and see.” He took her hand and walked her out to the horse shed. Tied to the shed was the cutest dog she’d ever seen.
“Oh, Jesse! Can we keep her?”
“Him. We can keep him. I bought him for you. I want you protected when I’m not at home.”
Charlie bent down to pet the dog, and he licked her hand while wagging his tail excitedly.
“This doesn’t mean you’re going to leave me for days or anything, does it?” she asked Jesse.
“It’s not in my immediate future, but I don’t know for sure what I’ll be doing for a living,” he told her.
She continued to play with the dog, but most of her excitement had abated. “Can I name him?”
“He’s yours.”
“Is he a German Shepherd?”
“Yes. He’s about a year old. His owner, Carl Whitman, hated to part with him, but he said that once the dog went with me, he’d know his new owner, and as long as you’re with me, you are, too. However, any strangers are fair game for him.”
“Shep. I’m naming him Shep.” She hugged the dog. “Thank you, Jesse.”
“We’ll need a watchdog because gossip has it that Roy is back in town.”
Chapter Twelve
Sean McMullen answered a knock on his door to find Roy Barkley leaning on his porch railing.
“Roy!” he greeted. “What can I do for you?”
“Howdy, Sean. How are you?”
“I’m fine.”
Roy stood, shuffling his feet. “I need a huge favor. I need to borrow two dollars.” He added in a desperate voice, “I’ll pay you back on payday.”
“Payday?” Sean scratched his head. “Do you have a job?”
“Yes, at the Sterling’s Mill lumber yard. We’re moving there, but I owe Horace Gladstone rent for the flat behind the saloon.”
“That’s wonderful news. I wish you the best. Are you taking Miss Delia with you?”
“Yes, she’s coming. She has a job in a saloon there called The Watering Trough. We have a small flat above the barber’s shop, and we’ll split the rent.”
Sean rubbed his chin. “I see. Well... ” he hesitated as he tried to think of how to handle things.
“Hey, I’ll ride back here on my first payday and pay back the money. I won’t let you down.”
Sean reached into his pocket and counted out two dollars. Before handing it to Sean he said, “I’ll give you the money, and I won’t expect it back on one condition: you leave Sunset Creek as quick as you can, and don’t come back. You and Jesse are my friends, and I’d rather you both stayed alive. I’ll need a promise from you.”
“Oh, I promise. We like it just fine in Sterling’s Mill. We plan to leave as soon as I pay Horace. That will be in about an hour. The women are all packed and ready to go.”
Sean handed him the money. “If I’m ever in Sterling’s Mill, I’ll look you up.”
Roy waved and mounted his horse. “Thank you.”
“It’s Sunday, Jesse. You need to put your suit on,” Charlie said. When Jesse grimaced, she said, “C’mon... you promised.”
Would he ever be able to resist her when she smiled up at him like that? “So, I did.” Jesse went back to his room to change.
Charlie could see that Jesse felt uncomfortable in the church pew, so she reached over and squeezed his hand. She left her hand on his. He turned his hand, palm up and gripped hers tightly. Charlie hoped the sermon would be a brilliant one, and it was. She noted that Jesse seemed interested in Pastor Smith’s sermon, and that made her smile. Charlie knew, deep down, that Jesse was a good man. Life had hardened him, but she’d soften him again, and she knew he’d find God, too.
As they were leaving the church, Sean called Jesse over to his buggy and whispered, “I need to talk to you about something urgent. Can you stop over as soon as you can, and don’t bring Charlie?”
“What’s up?” Jesse whispered.
He saw Sean gaze over at Sophia and Charlie, talking a few feet away. “It’s something I don’t want the girls to hear.”
Jesse readily agreed though he was filled with curiosity. “Say, Charlie might be too curious if I go to her sister’s house without her—can you get Sophia to visit Charlie?”
“That’s a good idea.”
“That way I can excuse myself and come over.”
“Don’t tell her you’re coming here,” Sean said.
Doubly curious, Jesse said, “I suppose I can make some excuse.”
“I’ll send Sophia over after we eat dinner, then.”
Jesse sat on an overstuffed settee at Sean’s house, anxiously awaiting what he had to say that was so private.
Sean came in with two glasses of lemonade.
Jesse took a glass. “Nothing better on a hot day than lemonade. Thank you.”
Sean sat in an armchair across from Jesse.
“What’s up?” Jesse asked.
“You won’t believe this, but please promise me you won’t say a word to anyone, especially Sophia and Charlie.”
“I promise,” Jesse said after a long sip of his drink. “Now, what is it?”
“I stopped at the sheriff’s office yesterday to ask after his wife, who is my cousin. She’s been ill. As I stood over his desk chatting with him, I noticed a familiar name on a wanted poster. Geoff said it had just come in. There’s no bounty on this man yet, but I need your help to find him and bring him in before someone else does.”
Jesse shrugged. “I can do that, but why the secrecy?”
“The wanted man is Leo Manning.”
Jesse gave Sean a confused look before the name dawned on him. “Holy... ” Jesse had been about to use profanity, but after that day’s sermon, he thought better of it. “Holy horse droppings!” He remembered from his marriage license that Charlie’s name was Charlotte Manning.
Jesse rubbed his forehead. “This is not good.”
“I know. I thought of you right away, so I told the sheriff to hold off on putting up the wanted posters. I promised him you’d bring him in.”
“What did Leo do? I thought he was in New York.”
“Here’s the story the sheriff gave me: Leo and a few friends formed a gang. They rode from New York to Kansas, causing havoc along the way. They committed minor crimes at first, like robbing small stores or stealing clothes from clotheslines and other trivial things. Then, they robbed a bank in Dodge City—armed robbery! The sheriff in the bank got shot, though he didn’t die. If you don’t find him, someone else will, and he might be shot and killed. ”
“Whew,” Jesse said. “Are you positive this is Sophia and Charlie’s brother? Manning is a rather common name.”
“I’m positive, especially after the sheriff said he was from Niagara Falls, New York.”
“Yeah, that would nail it. It’s a fairly small town.”
“So, you’ll bring him in? I'd prefer alive if we want to stay married.”
“I can track him and bring him in, but will our wives be all right with that? How do I tell Charlie that I brought her brother into the law so he could spend years in jail?”
“It’s better than if Leo and his gang commit more crimes and the wanted posters go up all around town or they put a bounty on him, and he’s brought in dead,” Sean said. “Next time someone could die, and his poster would read, ‘Dead or Alive.’ You need to find him before he does something else. They may go easy on him since he and his gang haven’t killed anyone... yet.”
Jesse shook his head. “No matter what we do, we’ll be wrong.”
“I suppose, but I would say his death would be harder to explain than his being jailed.”
Jesse finished his drink and stood. “I’ll leave tomorrow, but I’ll need you to look after Charlie while I’m gone. I’ll tell her I’m hunting a man for a bounty. If she won’t stay with you and Sophia, please keep her safe until I return.”
“Jesse, you know I will. And when the horse droppings hit the fan, I’ll admit to being the insti
gator so we’ll both be in the doghouse.”
Jesse laughed. “You just reminded me that I need to build Shep a doghouse. I’m glad I got him. He’ll be a great watchdog for Charlie.”
Sophia left shortly after Jesse came home.
Charlie went out to feed Shep, who stayed outside all day and just came in at night. Jesse sat on the settee with his head in his hands, trying to think of how he might tell Charlie he had to leave. He had to get on Leo’s trail before it went cold.
He heard Charlie come back inside, and he stood. It was now or never, he thought, but Charlie looked so happy that he hated to spoil it.
“This being Sunday, we are to rest, so I’m going to make us some sandwiches from the roast we had last night. Is that all right?”
He hadn’t ever touched Charlie romantically, but he had the strong urge to hold her in his arms just then, so he reached out and brought her to him.
She put her head on his chest and her arms around his waist. She peeked up at him. “Does this mean you want the sandwiches?”
“It means I care about you deeply,” Jesse said. He had spoken the truth. She had begun to burn a hole in his iceberg of a heart.
“The feeling is mutual,” she said, looking into his eyes.
Jesse studied her face. She had meant it. Her eyes told him so. And now he had to go ahead and spoil it. “Come, sit down with me.” He pulled her gently to the settee.
“I was hoping we could have stayed as we were a while longer,” she said with a giggle.
He took her hands in his after she had sat beside him. “I have something to tell you that will take that lovely smile off your face, and I hate to say it.”
Charlie’s smile faded. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it? Are you having a shootout with Roy?”
“No, but I still want one.”
“What, then?”
“I have to leave tonight and may not return for a few weeks.”
Charlie pulled her hands from his. “You promised you wouldn’t bounty hunt anymore.”
Jesse held up both of his hands as if in protest. “No, I did not promise. I said we’d have enough money for the winter, and I didn’t need to, but this is a special job.”
“How special can it be to take you away from me just when we were about to... really get acquainted.”
Jesse tried to draw her to him, but she pulled away.
“Why now?”
“It’s an urgent situation. Do you think I’d leave you here alone if it wasn’t important?”
Charlie frowned. “Important to whom?”
“I can’t say. It’s a secret mission.
"Believe me, sweetheart, I wouldn’t think of leaving you otherwise.” He pulled her closer to him, and the sound of her crying on his chest nearly broke his heart. That was when he knew for sure that he loved Charlie with all his heart.
He wiped away her tears. “You have to trust me, Charlie. If you care about me at all, trust me.”
Charlie sniffled, put her arms around Jesse’s neck, and clung to him. “I don’t want you to go!”
Her face was right in front of his, and he couldn’t resist kissing her passionately. When he did, he’d never felt anything so wonderful in his life. Her lips were warm and slightly salty, and she returned his kiss with such fervor that he hated that he had to leave even more than she did.
Before Jesse knew it, she was reclining against him, and he knew that was the night he’d make her his. He held up her chin and gazed into her bright blue eyes. “There has to be love first.” He kissed her forehead and whispered, “I love you, Charlie.”
“And, I love you with all my heart,” she responded.
Jesse kissed her again and stood. He helped her to her feet, led her to his bedroom, closed the door, and led her to his bed where he stood in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. “Are you sure?”
Charlie nodded and smiled through her tear-streaked face. “We need to seal this deal.”
Chapter Thirteen
Charlie and Jesse lay quietly in bed. She looked up at him and asked, “Can’t you wait until morning to leave?”
Jesse pressed the tip of her nose with his finger. I have a hard time refusing you anything when you look up at me with those big blue eyes. I’ll wait until early tomorrow.”
Charlie sat up. “Is that rain I hear?”
“Shep!” Jesse jumped from the bed, slipped into his pants, and ran out of the room. He opened the door, and Shep scampered in, shook the rain from his fur, and soaked Jesse.
“Thanks, Shep.” He grabbed a towel to dry himself off.
Charlie came into the room, grabbed the towel, and said in an alluring voice, “Come back to bed.”
Jesse didn’t hesitate. How he dreaded having to leave. Married life, what little of it he’d experienced, was heaven on earth.
They were back in bed in moments. Charlie snuggled close to him and put her head on his chest.
“Is there a possibility that someone could shoot you during your secret mission? I’m scared, Jesse.”
“There’s always a possibility, but I’ve been doing this for ten years and I have only had one gunshot wound; it was just a flesh lesion in my shoulder.”
Charlie sat up and searched his shoulders with her fingers in the dark. “There! I feel the scar.” She kissed it. “Please, come home to me safely.”
Jesse pulled her closer. “Sweetheart, tonight has been the best night of my entire life. I don’t want to go. I love you so much; I’ll do everything in my power to return safely and quickly. Together we’ll be a family, and I promise this will be my last mission. I’ll find a job here in town, somewhere.”
Jesse was as worried about her as she was about him. Would she be safe alone? He couldn’t protect her if he was miles away. He pulled her closer and kissed her lightly.
“There is plenty of money in our safe,” Jesse told her. “The combination is in my office. On my desk, you’ll find an ink bottle. Lift the bottle, and you’ll see the combination underneath it. Do you know how to open a safe?”
“Yes... put the thingy on zero, then turn to the first number going right, then left, then right, then open, correct?”
“Exactly. I want you to take whatever you need. Perhaps you and Sophia could go to Sterling’s Mill to see if the furniture I ordered is in. If you see any furniture there that you’d like, buy it.”
“We could use a new table and chairs, a dresser, and a more comfortable settee.”
“I’ll leave the décor to you.”
“Jesse... I promise I won’t cry again about you leaving if you'll do something for me.”
“I’ll do anything for you,” he answered, knowing he meant anything except give up this mission.
“I want you to pray to God every day for Him to keep you safe and return you to me quickly.”
Jesse hesitated as he played with her hair. “Pray? I don’t think I’ve ever prayed. How do I pray?”
“You don’t even have to speak the prayer out loud. Just think it, and God will hear you.”
“He’s a mind reader?”
“He is omnipotent.”
Jesse chuckled softly. “Omnipo what? What does that mean?”
“It means that God has unlimited power, and He can do anything.”
“So show me an example of a prayer.”
Charlie sat up. “Dear heavenly Father, please keep my dear husband safe while he journeys, and bring him home to me safe and sound. He’s going to pray to you while he’s gone—please hear him. In Jesus’ holy name, I pray. Amen.”
“And that’s all I have to do? It’s like talking to a friend, then.” Jesse kissed her forehead. “I promise to pray every day.”
“There’s one more thing I’d like you to do, just in case things go bad.”
“You’re such a pessimist.” He laughed. “I’ll be fine.”
“Seriously, Jesse. If something happens to you, I want assurance you’ll go to heaven because I love you so very much.”
“I want you to accept Jesus as your savior and invite the Holy Spirit into your heart.”
“I don’t understand,” he said.
Charlie spent the next half hour explaining salvation to Jesse. He focused on her every word.
“You know something, Mrs. Morgan? You’re good for me. Ever since I was a child I’ve known there was a superior being up there, but I ignored it because I didn’t understand any of it. Now that I have Jesus and the Holy Spirit in me, I know I’ll be protected. Thank you for sharing this with me. I listen to the sermon on Sundays, and it all makes perfect sense, but I was missing a few important facts, and now I have everything I need: the best wife in the world and Jesus as my savior.”
He kissed her passionately, and she wrapped her arms around him. “Make love to me again, Jesse. I want to remember this night until you return.”
“I can’t ever turn you down.”
Later, Jesse held Charlie in his arms. “I’m going to sneak out of here before you wake up tomorrow morning—I can’t stand goodbyes. I’ll play this night over and over in my mind while I travel. I’ll do my best to get home as fast as I can.”
Jesse had reached the Sterling's Mill area using his backwoods shortcuts before the sun appeared on the horizon, and he headed for Cheyenne. There, he’d veer southeast to get to Kansas and Dodge City. He knew how to sniff out an outlaw. He’d stop first in Dodge to talk to people. He’d find out how many were in the gang, who had seen them, and which way they had headed. He’d find Leo.
When Jesse finally reached Dodge, he questioned the bank employees, bystanders, and everyone he could. Next, he asked people in the street if anyone had seen which direction the bank robbers had headed. He asked so many people, and it seemed as if no one had seen which way the men had headed until he spoke to the owner of the livery.
“I sure did see them scoundrels. Couldn’t miss ‘em. They nearly knocked us off the road that day. I was bringing a rental buggy back to the livery when four men raced by me, and one of 'em still had the kerchief over his face. The others had 'em around their necks.”