"How far we gotta go now?" Thornton asked as they traveled across the Oklahoma Territory. It was a wide-open land, where the biggest problem to face were renegades and lack of water.
"Waco…" Jesse replied.
"That's still a ways, ain't it?" Billy asked.
"Yes, it's a ways yet." Jesse affirmed.
"Be glad to get out Indian country." Thornton looked edgy.
"There are Comanche's in Texas, Thornton. There are Indians everywhere." Jesse told him.
"Maybe, but here, there are a lot more of them." Thornton said looking about. "And they ain't too happy about living on them reservations either."
"That's true enough." Jesse nodded, "but we'll be out of here in a day or two."
"The sooner the better." Thornton looked wildly about him.
"I thought we might stop at Doan's Crossing and get a few supplies." Jesse told them.
"We could sure use some food." Shannon told him.
"Doan's Crossing, huh?" Jimmy John shot Thornton a strange look.
"Relax Thornton we've been through the worst part of the country." Billy scoffed at Thornton.
Just then, an arrow flew by and hit Billy straight in the heart. Billy slumped in the saddle.
Shannon saw it, and couldn't believe the arrow had come from nowhere. Not an Indian in sight, but they were out there. Waiting to pick them off one by one.
Stunned everyone stared at Billy as he bent over the saddle horn and weaved back and forth. They waited to see if he would move, but he didn't. He just slumped over, his hands sliding down the side of his horse, in no direction.
"Get down," Jesse hollered and whipped the girls horses into some rocks. "You two stay down. Stay behind these rocks, you'll be safer there."
Darrel took the rifle that Jesse had given him during the last skirmish. He threw Jimmy John a pistol. And they headed for cover, near the girls.
The Indian had come out of nowhere at them and they still didn't see anyone, staring out into the open plains.
Billy was barely sitting the saddle, but he finally fell off the horse with a heavy thud to the ground. It was a sound none of them could forget.
Thornton once again headed for the rocks where the women were.
Shannon looked at Jesse and shook her head. Billy was dead.
The Indians regrouped and came at them hollering and shooting their arrows right and left. Several of the Indians had rifles and a bullet nearly hit Thornton.
"Throw me a gun!" Thornton shouted.
Jesse glanced at Jimmy John. "I'll give him a gun for now, but watch him, will you?"
"Sure thing…" Jimmy John nodded
Jesse reached Jimmy John and untied his hands. The four of them held off a pack of Indians for a couple of hours, and then the Indians left, just like they came. Silently, they disappeared into the flat horizon. They had risen out of nowhere, and now they were gone.
"Comanche's!" Jimmy John hollered.
Jesse nodded.
Thornton was hiding with the girls, but he realized this was his chance to escape and pointed the gun at Jimmy John. Jesse whirled about to see it in time and threw his knife at Thornton. Thornton fell with a thud to the ground, his voice uttering a loud groan.
Jimmy John looked at Jesse, "That was close."
Jesse went to get Billy. He got his shovel off his horse and dug a hole to bury him. Then he began digging another because Shannon confirmed that Thornton was dead.
A silent relief flooded through Susan at his death.
Darrel wanted to say words over Billy, but he had to compose himself to do it. The two young men had shared a lot for the last few years and it was hard to say goodbye. Good or bad, Billy had been a friend. "Lord, Billy was wild, we all know that. Maybe he was too young to realize just how wild. Forgive him…Amen."
Susan squeezed Darrel's hand and stayed close to him.
"He was your friend, wasn't he?" Susan asked as they ate supper that night.
"Yeah, I guess so. We were close to the same age. Billy's folks weren't very good people, so Billy didn't have much of a chance to be good either. I'm sorry for that. Mrs. Cutler gave him that second chance, but Billy didn't take it. He just had this wild streak that couldn't be tamed."
"It's not so much what your folks are, but what you are, Darrel," Shannon patted him on the back. "I'm sorry you lost him. I guess he became like a brother to you."
"Something like that, yeah. I just wish he'd have seen what he was getting himself into. He didn't have much of a chance from the start."
"Yeah…me to." Jimmy John said. "He was just a kid. I tried to get a hold on Billy, but he was of an age where you couldn't change him."
Jimmy John's hands were still untied now and he waited to see if Jesse was going to retie them.
Jesse looked him in the eye and shook his head. "I'm not gonna tie your hands any more Jimmy John. We were in too many scrapes where you helped us out. I can't do it."
"Thanks." Jimmy John seemed grateful.
"I hope that's the last of the Indians for a while." Shannon sighed.
"If we can make it to Doan's Crossing, we'll be fine." Jesse exclaimed.
"You ain't gonna tell them who we are, are you?"
Jesse smiled at Jimmy John. "No, I won't tell them who you are, Jimmy John, I might have a lynching on my hands."
The weather had become drier and water was scarcer as they crossed through Oklahoma Territory to the dusty panhandle of Texas. The Red was up some and crossing took some doing, but they made it to the Crossing.
Jesse didn't want to hang around too long. He had Shannon get the things she thought they would need, and he paid for them.
"Just passin' through?" The man at the counter asked.
"Yeah, on our way to Waco."
"Been travelin' long?"
"A might, yeah." Jesse answered, tossing the money on the counter. "Thanks."
"Did you run into any Indians?"
"Yeah, we did."
"But everyone is okay?"
"No, we lost two men on the way." Jesse explained.
"They on the warpath again?" the man asked.
"I think they are just mad about the having to live on the reservation."
"Too bad. McKenzie's liable to come up here and stomp the livin' daylights out of them." The man said.
"McKenzie?"
"Army…"
Jesse nodded.
"Thanks," Shannon smiled at the man and they left.
Dust scattered and at times was so thick it's all a person could taste in their mouths as they followed the trail the big herds had just came from.
Something had changed now and Jesse knew he had to face the crisis that was coming for him. He'd always stood for the law, but now…
He looked at Shannon with the turmoil inside him. He needed to talk to someone with a level head, and she was about the best there was for that.
"I can't do it." He said, wrestling with his conscience that evening as she was fixing their supper.
"Do what?" Shannon saw the trouble in his fascial expressions. "What are you worried about now?"
"I been a lawman a long time, Shannon. I've taken a lot of prisoners. In a lot of different circumstances. But this bunch…I don't know…it's different somehow. I never let myself get close to any of them. Never let myself feel emotions."
"You don't want to turn them in do you?" Shannon felt a smile in her heart at the news. The Ranger was changing right before her eyes.
"No…and I know that I represent the law, and that I should. Because I believe in the law. But…Darrel and Jimmy John they are all that is left. I haven't done very well keeping them alive. The ones that died would have hung anyway. I don't feel too bad about that, but the other two…I just can't…."
Shannon studied him a minute, she put her hand on his. "Sometimes right and wrong have many colors to them. Sometimes, you have to weigh what you are doing, and find the right and wrong of it. If you continue to look at the law the same way, as black and white, then you'll never see those colors in between."
"How'd you get so wise…?" He smiled at her.
"I'm not. I've faced a few truths along the way too. I can't save everyone. Look at poor Billy. I got the bullet out of him, saved him from a fever, but I didn't save his soul, he was still as close to death as though that bullet were still in him. When I looked at Thornton, I didn't seem to care if he died or not. That wasn't very nice of me. And I have to admit, I did have some better values when I was little. But it's the truth. That's not how a doctor is supposed to react. Like a lawman, I have to heal the sick and injured, I can't afford emotions either. So…I know how you feel. But maybe you and I are just learning how to feel…"
He looked into her eyes. "You have a way about you Shannon. I've learned to trust your judgement a lot."
Shannon smiled warmly at him. "Thank you that may be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me…"
"But I'm wrestling with this whole thing. I'm considering hanging up my guns once we get to Waco. I think it's time. When a lawman can't fulfill his obligations, it's time to quit."
"What would you do?"
"I'm not sure. Never took to farming. Might try punching cows or something. But it won't have anything to do with the law."
"How long have you worked for the Rangers?" She asked.
"Ten years…"
"You were young when you started then." She remarked.
"Yeah, I left home early. Had to find ways to support myself. Worked on a ranch a while, punched cattle a while, then I met up with a Ranger. He was tracking a cattle thief at the time and he stayed at the ranch I worked on for a while. I liked him; he was a lot older and wiser than I was. He steered me in the right direction and the next thing I knew I had signed up with the Rangers." Jesse recalled his smile wistful.
"Do you regret it?"
"No, not a bit. I just think it's time to move on now. Do something else with my life. I'm getting a little saddle sore myself, so to speak." He glanced at her. "Besides, I might live a little longer if I do…"
"Won't you miss the kind of life you've led?"
"What sitting the saddle every day, using my gun instead of my head. No…I won't miss that." Jesse exclaimed. He looked at her, "So…are you going back to Oregon?"
The question was so blunt; it took her completely by surprise. "I-I don't know."
"I thought you loved it there." He remarked.
"I do love the country, but it isn't the right place, I know that now. The people were no more accepting of me there than in Boston. And in a lot of ways, I do see that Ma was right about what she said. I thought nothing of going to the mining camps alone, or the hills. I never realized the dangers until she pointed them out. I was thinking of healing, not my reputation. She was right. Sometimes my aunt and uncle thought me unscrupulous because I didn't think about the danger a woman could face if she was alone. In Boston, I would have been scorned for even thinking of doing what I've done here. The things Ma said, hit a sore spot with me. Funny how places seem to determine your life."
"I forgot that's where you came from. You want to go back to Boston?" He asked.
"No…Boston is no longer home for me now. I'm not sure what I want to do. There must be some place on this earth that I can practice where me being a woman won't matter. I just haven't found it yet."
Jesse nodded. "I hope you find that place…"
"Me too…" she sighed.
"Don't you have a life you want to get back to?"
She thought about that a minute. "I almost wish I did have. But no."
"Isn't there a man, somewhere in your past?"
Shannon looked at him, wishing he knew what she really felt, and unable to tell him. "No…"
"Why not, you're a beautiful and intelligent woman." Jesse said softly.
"In Boston, the men I respected and thought a lot of didn't have the same feelings I had about medicine and me being a doctor. They thought me much too presumptuous. They thought because I loved medicine that I couldn't love them as a woman. After a while, I accepted that, but I always felt there had to be somewhere that I would fit in. That was the reason I came out west. Hopefully to find that place."
He pulled her chin up to look into her eyes. "Maybe you were just looking in the wrong places."
"Maybe…" she uttered, her heart pounding like a heavy drum from his touch.
"Maybe Texas is where you belong…" His lips dipped to touch hers in a soft quick kiss. "It's full of hard working, stubborn people who are determined to cut out a life for themselves, no matter the cost."
Breathless, she couldn't take her eyes from him. "Maybe." She whispered.
He smiled and walked off.
It gave her food for thought. And something even more important…hope!