Authors: Fiona Knightingale
“Merriam, you have every right to want something better for yourself. You just settled for someone that didn’t care for you the way that you should be cared for. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. It’s just that I find you easy to talk to and you’re not so hard on the eyes.” Those eyes of his were now narrowed on my bosom and even though he couldn’t see much, it did make me feel like I was vulnerable and exposed. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to treat you like an object. It’s just that you are very beautiful and sexy and I think that you would look a whole lot better with your hair down.” That was a suggestion that I could take to the bank. I easily pulled the pin and let my long dirty blond hair fall along my shoulders.
He stopped momentarily to brush a stray hair out of my eyes. I peered into his and I felt this sort of connection that came from knowing that the same man was trying to kill us. It also meant that I could love again. I had no feelings of guilt. From the moment that I saw Vance, I had those telltale butterflies in my stomach. I certainly didn’t think that I would act on them, but now that my husband had showed his hand, it was pretty clear that the marriage was pretty much over.
“I don’t know how I’ve gotten, so lucky to have you here. Without you, I might be already dead. I have to take it that we were destined to meet like this. It might not be the best of circumstances, but why quibble over details.” He still had his hand brushing along my hair and sending these chills up and down my spine that was causing me to shiver noticeably. I was still wearing his duster and he didn’t seem to mind or even ask for it back.
“I think that it might be time that you look at those documents.” As we walked further down the embankment, I reached into the satchel and found those documents. I pulled them out and I noticed right away that they were deeds to not only one land, but also several other parcels of land that had been foreclosed on by the bank. He was looking for that gold mine and he had no problem in searching various ones at a reduced price to get what he wanted. Once these were filed, he would have access to at least 50 acres of prime real estate. I’d been around him long enough to get the lay of the land. The jargon was a little harder to understand, but I think that the main part was pretty clearly written out.
“It appears that my husband has been telling tales out of school. He only gave me a semblance of the truth. If they get their hands on this, then he’s going to have a stranglehold on the gold mining rights of several parcels of land. From what I can see, he has acquired those pieces of property through blackmail and coercion. He never likes to get his own hands dirty, but these documents prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s a vulture. I don’t think that he meant to send these other two documents. They probably got mixed up in with the rest of them. It details all of his dirty dealings. He thought that he was going to take care of me and then get his men to finish the task he asked me to do for him.”
Chapter four
As we walked for about another hour, I started to think about the proof that was in my hands and began to realize that it probably wasn’t by chance. There was no way that my husband would’ve made that big a mistake. I remembered that Thomas was the one that gave me the package and told me not to open it under any circumstances. If he was the one that was responsible, then he was surely going to find himself on the receiving end of my husband’s kind of punishment. I didn’t even want to think about what that could entail. He had always been a vindictive sort and I felt sort of sorry for Thomas.
One thing that he didn’t ask for was to be put into the middle of all of this. He apparently thought that he was doing the right thing and that by going against his employer, he was essentially giving me the freedom that I was, so desperately searching for.
“Merriam, the way that you have been talking about Colin, makes me think that this is not just a simple accident. I really don’t know either one of you, but it looks to me like he would be very careful about his business. I doubt seriously that he would leave evidence of his criminal activities in the same package that he was going to use to take away land from hard working individuals.” Apparently, Vance had figured out the same thing that I did.
“Vance, I think the guy that had a crush on me decided to go against the hand that fed him. I don’t know exactly why he would do such a thing, except to say that he thought that he was doing right by me. I just hope that it didn’t land him into any trouble. If he was smart, he would’ve made tracks, as soon as he gave me this package. I’m just not sure that he would have done that. If he did, he would bring suspicion and I don’t think that he would want to do that. Let’s say for arguments sake that his betrayal was found out, then that would certainly explain why he had sent these men to come after me. From everything that I’ve heard, I’m pretty much under the assumption that he was going to kill me anyway. I think he didn’t realize at the time that I had leverage against him. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know that myself. It’s even possible that these men don’t even work for my husband. I still don’t know all the answers.”
“Merriam, I’m not sure that your husband is involved, at least not in the way that we think he is. I think he legitimately wanted you to take those documents to be filed. Sabotaging your stagecoach and the horses had to have been done long before the package was in your hand. That makes it possible and not out of the realm of possibility that he’s not even involved with this.” It didn’t matter. I couldn’t live with a man that had these kinds of enemies coming after him all the time. It was just a matter of time before I would be in the crosshairs. Maybe he did know that these men were coming after him and had decided to use me, as a sort of bait. Either way, he could not be forgiven for putting me into danger, regardless if he loved me or not.
“I really don’t care what his true motives were. I just can’t live like this anymore. I need to find a fresh start and I think the only way to do that is by putting him where he belongs.” I never thought that I would even consider making an enemy out of him. I had seen too many times what he did to those that betrayed him. I’d heard the anguished screams in the barn in the middle of the night. He probably thought that I didn’t see or hear anything that was going on, but I was little craftier than that.
“For a Christian girl like you to be involved with somebody like that is going in the face of everything that I believe in. I’m no stranger to doing things that are outside of the law. I think that deep down I have a moral compass that I follow to this day. If you really want to make him pay for his crimes, then I would be more than happy to get you where you need to go.”
I thought that was a nice thing for him to do. He certainly didn’t have to put himself in harms way. This was not his fight and for him to do this only showed what kind of character he really had. He was the kind of man that I could see myself with. I could already feel the heat between us and I knew that eventually we would not be able to keep our hands off each other.
“Vance, I would really like that. He has gone unchecked long enough. One way or the other, we’ll get this evidence into the proper hands. Thomas probably gave me this knowing that the sheriff in this town that I’m going to is not corrupt. He will not be swayed by bribery or even coercion.” I didn’t know this for sure, but I do believe that Thomas would have made sure that all of his ducks were in a row.
“I know the area like the back of my hand. I’ve been living out here for the past couple of months. I felt compelled to stay here and I never knew why, until now. I was meant to find you and give you the life that you deserve. I’m sorry to say that I’m not the type of guy that’s going to settle down easily. If you’re willing to come with me, I can promise you that life will never be predictable. I will always make sure that I show you how much I care about you. There will never be a day that goes by that you feel neglected.
“If you can help me with this one thing, Vance, then I am all yours.” It felt nice to say that and the next thing on my agenda was to get a very quirky divorce. “I’ve always done what was right and never what was right for me. I only got involved with Colin, because my family was on hard times. I wonder what my life would’ve been like had I not had to walk down that road alone. I know to this day that my family is not happy with some of my decisions. I only made sure that they were safe and did not have to worry about where their next meal came from.”
“Well, doesn’t this beat all.” I turned to see this man with a very thick black mustache and sinister eyes staring at the both of us from behind. I heard the cocking of the shotgun and I saw my life flash before me. “Vance, I should have known that you would be the first in line to get a piece of the pie. I would say that I’m willing to share with you, but I think we both know that would be a lie.” It was obvious from the way that he was talking to Vance that they knew each other.
“Derek, I thought that was you back there, but I wasn’t sure. I would have shown myself, but I also didn’t want to share the bounty.” I was in between a rock and a hard place and the only way out of this was to try to make a run for it. I moved, but I felt his hand on the small of my back. He was rubbing it in a circle and in that way, I came to the conclusion that he was still on my side. “I’ve seen what she has in her possession and maybe we can make some sort of arrangement.” His tone of voice sounded bad and I could tell that Derek was intrigued by the proposition. He lowered the gun and placed it by his side, but he did not relinquish his hold on it.
“Vance, I don’t know if it’s right for me to hear this proposal without the rest of the guys present and accounted for.”
“Derek, I think we both know that you would sell out your mother for the right price. If you were to call in your posse, then they would surely want what’s rightfully theirs. Let’s work together, but first let me get rid of this albatross that has been hanging around my neck. Hand me that shotgun and I’ll show you how to do business.” The way that he was smirking, had me completely terrified for my own life.
Vance grabbed the weapon, turned it on me and pointed the barrel right at my chest. I tried to see something in his eyes, but they were cold and hard. There was no discerning if there was an emotional struggle going on or not. Could I have really been mistaken about who this man really was? Was I deluding myself into thinking that he was my savior, when all along he was only hedging to see who was going to come out on top?
“I’m perfectly fine with you getting your hands dirty, Vance. I’d rather not get blood on my new leather boots.” I watched, as Vance narrowed his eyes and then brought that shotgun back and smashed it into the face of Derek. It stunned and shocked him for a moment, paralyzing him for a split second, so that Vance could use the handle, as a makeshift club to beat him down.
He dropped the weapon beside him on the ground “I’m not that kind of guy anymore, Derek. It’s time I set things right and become the man that this woman deserves.”
“You really did have me fooled there for a second, Vance. I know that you were just putting on airs, but it looked real enough to me.” He left Derek bleeding from the nose and unconscious from the attack.
“Merriam, I hope that you forgive my charade. I just needed to make him believe that I was still that same underhanded man that he knew a few years ago. My wife was the one that changed me and even after her death, I was tempted to go back to the old ways. In the end, I liked who I had become and I couldn’t in good conscience destroy people’s lives anymore.” I knew that he was fighting demons, but I thought it had something to do with his wife’s memory.
“What makes you think that he’s the end of it?”
“Derek tends to go off on his own and usually leads those that are with him on a wild goose chase. We can continue on our way from here and he won’t be any bother from this moment on.” He pulled me to him and with the adrenaline still rushing through his veins; he kissed me with a passion that was unbound. I felt completely at ease in his arms and I let him manhandle me and run his hands down over my body. He left me flustered and feeling like I was crawling out of my own skin.
We made it to the town in question and the sheriff issued a warrant poster for Colin. They found him and he was convicted. The land that he did have was given back to those that he had manipulated.
I stand here with Vance in this hotel room above the saloon. We have already stripped off our clothes and we are now looking at each other, before falling into bed with only one thing on our mind. We made those sheets burn and our cries of ecstasy was heard all weekend. We finally emerged with smiles on our faces and our hair in disarray. I had found the cowboy of my dreams and he had just given me a night to remember or maybe that was two nights or was that three. It didn’t matter. I knew that that was just a start of a beautiful relationship that had just been consummated.
“We are definitely going to have to do that again and often.” I looked up into his eyes and I saw something that told me that he felt the same way about me.
“Merriam, for a good Christian girl, you certainly can be a bad girl.” If I didn’t have the ring on my finger, I would have agreed with him. We had married last night and this was our honeymoon and to say that it surpassed all expectations would’ve been an understatement. We actually rode off on one horse with the sun setting in the distance and on our way to a new future together.
THE END