Chloe scuttled across the floor on her hands and knees towards Dan, she was crying so hard she thought she’d collapse but she managed to reach Dan’s fallen body. She slipped on to her ass and rolled his body over and in to her lap.
Dan looked up at her as she wiped at his hair and face.
‘Baby!’ Chloe cried, ‘Dan, you’re going to be okay, baby stay with me!’
Chloe was crying harder still as she looked at all the blood, his leg, his chest wound, there was so much blood. Dan’s clothing was drenched.
Snot ran from her nose and spittle dropped from her open mouth as she brushed his hair.
‘Baby you gotta stay with me, please!’ Chloe’s voice was haggard and barely more than a whisper.
Dan opened his eyes, ‘I’m sorry baby,’ he croaked, ‘I’m pretty fucked up here.’ He coughed, his body shaking, blood splattered her breasts. ‘I so love you Chloe, I’m sorry.’
Dan’s eyes began to close and Chloe shook his head.
‘No baby, you can’t die,’ Chloe cried through her tears. ‘You see, I told you I’d love you for the rest of my life, and if you die on me now I’m going to be so alone until I die in old age, I’m not going to let you leave me all alone.’ She was smoothing his cheek with her hand; she didn’t even notice all the blood beginning to pool around them.
Dan coughed again, ‘I’m sorry Chloe.’
Chloe reached across Dan and picked up Carl’s abandoned gun. She lifted it beneath her chin and said, ‘I told you sweetie, if you go, we go, so what’s it going to be?’
Dan swallowed and smiled at Chloe, ‘You better call an ambulance then.’
Chloe laughed and lowered the pistol to the floor and leant forward, her bound hands found his and she kissed his lips and said, ‘Dan, you better still be breathing when the ambulance gets here, or I’m going to use that pistol, so you better hold on!’
Dan laughed and coughed again and whispered, ‘I haven’t got all day, you best be quick.’
‘I love you Dan.’
Chloe lowered Dan’s head to the floor and climbed to her feet. She staggered across to the doorway to Carl’s body and started to search for a mobile phone.
‘Did they?’ Dan croaked.
Chloe stood up with a mobile phone in her hand and turned to Dan; she dialled 999 and smiled at him. ‘No baby, like I’ve told you before; only you.’
Dan underwent three surgeries over the coming days, the paramedics who arrived on the scene had saved Dan’s life; the gunshot to the chest was the most life threatening and his lung had been punctured and it was this that required immediate attention. In the time it took for the authorities to arrive Chloe cut their bonds and found a silk dressing gown to slip in to.
They couldn’t fabricate too much of a story in regards to what had happened with Terry and Carl and they had stuck with a version of the truth. When Dan was recuperating in the hospital and two detectives assigned to the case came to visit and to question them they had explained how Terry had nurtured a jealousy of Dan’s simple life with Chloe and that Terry had wanted Chloe for himself and things had turned violent and that Dan had had to kill to protect himself.
The fact that Terry was well known to the police helped in their story; no one would truly miss another criminal big-shot and the detectives had left them assuring them both that they doubted the CPS would look to prosecute.
Dan’s injuries had postponed their move to Montana but it gave Chloe longer with her parents, who visited him every day, Chloe wouldn’t leave his side and had bedded down in the hospital room the first night after his surgery and she didn’t leave other than to grab quick showers or a meal from the hospital canteen. His wounds healed and physiotherapy sessions on a daily basis began and day by day he could feel his strength returning. When Dan was finally signed off by the hospital it was late spring, the promise of summer on the horizon.
On the last day of spring they left England; at the airport there were tears and hugs all around as Ron and Jean saw them off. Dan could see how sad they both were that their daughter was leaving for another country but Dan could also see how happy they were for their daughter and their new son-in-law. Dan had grown to love them both dearly.
Dan squeezed Chloe’s hand and said, ‘Ron, Jean, why don’t you both come to stay for the Christmas holiday.’ He hadn’t discussed it with Chloe but he could see by the delight on her face that she loved the idea.
‘Well son, will you be settled in time?’ Ron asked but Dan could see that Ron wanted to.
‘Of course we will, we’ve nothing to do but get prepared for your visit, we’d love to have you stay for a week or so, better yet, stay for a month.’
‘Are you sure Dan, we wouldn’t want you to overdo things?’ Jean said.
Dan nodded his head, ‘I’ll even pay for the flights.’
‘That would be fantastic,’ Ron said and they all hugged and said goodbye and that they’d keep in constant touch on the telephone and Chloe told them that she would sort them all out with internet cameras and that they’d organise everything for Christmas.
*****
PART THREE
Montana, USA.
The town of Rockspur had a population of 1,289 which shot up to almost 5,000 during the skiing season and Maureen Jenson operated the only Real Estate business within 250 miles and business, up until that Tuesday morning had been getting slow over the last few years.
The couple were waiting outside of her office when she pulled in to her parking space, she hadn’t even opened up for business when the man said, ‘We’d like to buy this property please,’ and he pointed at a brochure he was holding out to her.
Maureen nodded her head and smiled pleasantly at the man and woman. ‘That’s the widow Madison’s place.’
‘Well, we’d like to buy it,’ the young, attractive woman said and Maureen opened up and let them in. She didn’t think for one minute that they would actually buy the ranch; it was on the market for one dollar shy of a million, and Maureen had shown countless people the property over the last two years but had had no takers; they didn’t like how isolated the place could get in a bad winter.
Maureen was a professional though so she would go through the motions.
‘Why don’t you both take a seat and we’ll see what we can do?’ Maureen said and flicked on the office’s lights. Her office receptionist Beth would be along soon.
The man and woman took seats in front of her desk and Maureen plopped her tired ass down in the old swivel chair and looked at the couple. The man was handsome in a rugged sort of way, in jeans and a grey roll-neck sweater, he looked like any other man on the street but Maureen could see a steel-like quality in the man’s eyes, and she had to admit to herself that she found herself attracted to him. The young woman was a stunner; shoulder length black hair, a perfectly shaped body, large breasts that Maureen knew were not out of some Californian’s surgery, and the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. The couple were holding hands and she saw the large diamond ring on the woman’s marriage finger so maybe they weren’t a couple of dreamers and Maureen felt the first flicker of a deal to be done. Maureen smiled at the young woman, ‘I love your dress, and you’re so pretty it makes me miss my youth all over again.’
The young woman thanked Maureen and turned to the man and said, ‘Dan, show the lady we’re serious.’
Dan cast a quick glance down the plunging neck line of Chloe’s dress (it was a deep red colour, one of twenty four she owned, all the same thin cashmere, but each a different colour, he’d never grow tired of seeing her in them, and the fact that he knew she wore no lingerie beneath the dress’ thin layer of cashmere wool always made his heart beat a little faster). Chloe adjusted the hem of her dress as she crossed one leg over the other and he caught sight of a tan-coloured stocking top. Her high heels were the same colour as the dress (again she had bought shoes in the same colours as the dresses, all of her clothes, shoes as well as a lot of other stuff were in the U-Haul trailer that was cu
rrently parked out the back of the holiday cottage they were renting here in town).
‘Honey?’ Chloe said with a smile as she smoothed her dress down; once more hiding the top of her hold-ups.
Dan smiled and nodded. He placed the small leather case he had carried in with him on to the desk, turned it towards Maureen and flipped the catches. The lid opened. ‘That’s two hundred thousand dollars, call it a deposit, we’ll pay the rest however you’d like, we’ll give the full asking price but on two conditions,’ Dan told Maureen.
Maureen lifted her eyes from the contents of the case and managed a smile; she was struggling to keep herself composed.
‘Yes?’ Maureen said softly, her brain already working out her commission and the extension that she could finally have built off the back of her bungalow.
‘We want to complete before the week is out.’
Maureen nodded. ‘That might be possible, the widow Madison lives in Florida with her daughter, the ranch is empty, and the other clause?’
‘We’d like for you to help us out for the week, introduce us to various trades people, we have plans for the ranch house, an extension, we’d need a decent carpenter, we’d also like to be put in touch with any horse breeders in the area, get to know the local businesses, we’ll be doing a lot of shopping over the next few months.’
Maureen smiled.
‘We’d pay you for your time of course,’ Chloe said.
‘Good lord child, no need for that, it would be my pleasure.’
Beth came in then and Maureen asked that coffee be put on for her clients. Dan and Chloe introduced themselves by name and Maureen closed the case and secured it in the safe.
‘Well, Dan, Chloe, I need the ladies room, why don’t y’all have a coffee and then we’ll get started, if that’s okay with you both?’
‘Maureen, that would be really kind of you; thank you,’ Dan told her.
Maureen went to the toilet at the back of the office and her laughter could be heard throughout the offices.
Beth handed them their coffees and smiled. ‘It’s been a bit quiet lately, I think you just made Aunt Maureen’s year.’
They completed on the purchase of the ranch the following Monday and the days started to flick by so quickly they were that busy. Maureen had indeed introduced them around the town of Rockspur and pointed them in the direction of a carpenter who had been happy to meet with Dan and Chloe on the Saturday out at the ranch to go through their plans. Although completion wouldn’t occur until the Monday they all knew that the ranch was theirs. The carpenter was a mild mannered man who’d introduced himself as Barnie.
‘I don’t know how I came to be called Barnie, but it’s the name my folks saw fit to call me.’
Dan and Chloe introduced themselves and instantly took a liking to the older man. Barnie was in his fifties but he was strong as an ox, and just looking at pictures of some of the work he had done over the years they knew they were in safe hands.
Stood outside of the ranch house Dan unrolled the plans that he had sketched, he’d leave the actual logistics of it to Barnie.
‘This is what we’d like, off to the right, open through that wall, circular in design.’
Barnie looked at the sketches and could see what Dan was trying to convey. Barnie looked from the sketch to the ranch.
‘It’ll take a while folks, the initial knock through is the easy part, but going up two flights, like a lighthouse, and all that glass, it’ll be quite the job, the end result will be great but...’
Dan looked at Chloe and she nodded her head, they’d discussed something like this the night before in bed.
‘Barnie, I’m going to be really honest with you, we’d like the whole thing completed by the end of the summer, if you need to take on a contractor we’ll pay those costs ourselves, it won’t come out of your end, and if you’ve got any other jobs lined up we’ll pay extra to cover any losses you may incur.’
Barnie stroked at his stubbled face. He looked at the ranch, then Dan, and finally settled on Chloe. She looked so damn fine in a white blouse and black skirt, he might be an old coot but he knew beauty when he saw it.
‘I tell you what little miss, you give me a peck on one of my tired old cheeks and you’ve got yourselves a deal.’
Dan laughed as did Barnie.
‘Barnie I can go one better than that,’ Chloe said and gave the carpenter a quick kiss square on the mouth.
Barnie stepped back and laughed as his face reddened. ‘Damn, you taste like a peach little lady.’
Barnie put his hand out and they all shook on the deal.
‘I promise y’all it’ll be ready come the fall.’
Chloe looked at Dan questioningly.
‘By the autumn,’ Dan said and hugged Chloe close.
Dan and Chloe, with help from Maureen quickly got accepted by everyone they met. The general stores, owned by a lovely old couple who had lived in Rockspur their entire lives, and the hardware store hadn’t made so much money in many a year and the trade was met with appreciation. In the grocers Dan had stocked up on tinned goods, fresh ground coffee, sugar, bottled spices and herbs and purchased complete sets of saucepans and other kitchen appliances. Chloe had helped Dan pick out a coffee maker, blender, juicer and other such items. To Chloe it was like Christmas had come early. To be doing such simple things filled her with such joy that she struggled to comprehend how good life could be.
Dan had left Chloe in the store chatting to a young woman who worked at the library and went on over to the hardware store with a list already prepared.
‘Help you son?’ the store keeper asked as Dan stepped in through the open doorway.
Dan shook the man’s hand, ‘Dan Constantine, my wife Chloe and I just purchased the old Madison ranch.’
‘Y’all employ Barnie, I’ve heard about you, pleased to meet you, the name’s Harry Bickerson, owner of this fine establishment, how can I help?’
Dan handed Harry the list he had drawn up the previous evening.
Harry read down through it. ‘Yes sir I can help with all’a this but as for the fencing posts, you’d be better off seeing Drew out at the mill, just follow the road out of town as if you were heading home and take the first right after the railroad tracks, tell old Drew I sent y’all and he’ll see you proper.’
‘Thanks; will it be okay if I pick the rest of the stuff up later this afternoon?’
‘Swing by about four and it’ll all be ready, I’ll even do you a discount.’
‘Credit card okay or would you prefer cash?’
Harry laughed, he sounded like a bear and Dan grinned. ‘Son, cash is king if you catch my drift, saves a might with the IRS, what they don’t know and all.’
‘Cash’ll be fine, say Harry; I don’t suppose there’s an honest car dealership in town?’
‘Dan, there’s a place just behind us on the next block over, man named Bryson runs it, I went to kindergarten with him, so again tell him I sent you, looking for a decent truck?’
‘Yes, we have a Volvo 4x4 but I could really use a decent open back truck, get around the ranch.’
‘He’ll sort you straight on that.’
Dan shook Harry’s hand again and said he’d be back later that afternoon.
Harry called to him at the door and Dan turned back.
‘Bring your wife in with you, all I’ve been hearing is how gorgeous she is,’ Harry said chuckling.
Dan said that he would.
Dan met Chloe back at the store and together they loaded their purchases in to the Volvo. Dan held her door open so she could climb up in to the passenger seat. As she slipped by him Dan ran his hand up her stockinged thigh and squeezed her bare buttocks.
Chloe squealed and closed the door on him before he could get too carried away.
Dan got in to the driver’s seat and leaned over and kissed Chloe. Chloe opened her mouth and accepted his tongue. His right hand ran up her cashmere dress and he caressed her left breast through the thin mate
rial; he could feel her nipple harden beneath his palm.
Chloe was beginning to breath heavy and pushed him away.
‘As much as I’d fuck you right here and now it might not be good for community relations.’
Dan laughed and put the Volvo in gear and backed out in to the road.
‘They all seem very nice,’ Dan said.
Chloe nodded. ‘They do, let’s just hope that appearances aren’t deceptive.’
Dan smiled at her, although they both liked coming in to town, the sooner the ranch was completed the better, they’d been through too much to trust anyone fully other than themselves but they liked the people they’d met and enjoyed having conversations with other people, but both of them knew that if they were the last two people on earth that would be just fine too.
Dan turned in to traffic and Chloe adjusted her posture so that she sat facing him, she had one heeled foot on the seat. Dan looked at her; he could see her stocking tops and the wetness between her legs; her slit inviting him.
‘I need to stop at the car dealership, we need a truck, especially for getting around the ranch, but once we’re done there how about we head back to the guest house and you let me make love to you for a couple of hours?’
Chloe ran her hands up the inside of her thighs. ‘Sounds good.’
‘Great, we’ve got to go to the hardware store at four, I thought this evening we’d go out, see if we can find a decent bar, have a few beers.’
‘Can I dance?’
‘We’ll dance,’ Dan replied.
Chloe giggled playfully and slapped his thigh. ‘No honey, I dance, you just paw me.’
‘Shit,’ Dan joked, ‘Am I that obvious?’
‘It’s why I love you, I love that you can’t get enough of me, we’ll find somewhere nice, I’ll give Maureen a call later, she’s bound to know, I’ll wear something sexy.’
Dan drove the newly purchased Ford truck and Chloe followed in the Volvo. Dan felt like a red-neck sat in the cab of the truck; there was even a rifle rest behind his head back against the cab’s rear. The truck was brand new with huge wheels and a suspension that according to Bryson would get over anything.
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