A red-haired lady played in the light breezes that swept through the prairie. Jessica Jane spun around in the field, enjoying the feeling of freedom. The rising sun bathed the young woman in a rosy light, casting her soft features in lovely relief. The sound of hooves hitting the ground met her ears and she turned towards the sound.
A smile lit up her face when she saw her best friend Woodrow Pride ride up on his chestnut horse Bullseye. Her smile grew when she saw her pinto mare Buttercup running alongside the mounted cowboy, neighing happily as she went.
The cowboy rode up to Jessica and pulled his horse to a stop, giving her a stern look as he dismounted.
"Jessie, thank goodness you're alright." The smile slipped from her pretty face when she saw the look on his, red bows pulling together in confusion.
"Why wouldn't I be alright, Woody?"
The sheriff offered a grim smile in reply.
"There was another raid last night, took place about an hour's ride from here." Jessie's hand flew to her mouth, a small gasp escaping her parted lips.
"Not again. Oh Woody, if I had known I never would have left the house." Woodrow couldn't stand to see her upset, but knew that he needed to get the severity of the situation across before he could allow himself to comfort her. Brown eyes stared into green and he sighed.
"Jess, they killed the men and children and stole the women. When I woke up and couldn't find you, I thought that they got you too."
The lawman stared at his deputy, hoping that she could see the pain in his eyes, that she could see how much the very thought of something so terrible happening to her killed him inside.
He knew what happened to the women that were taken in the raids. The poor souls were sold as slaves. Just the thought of that happening to his Jess made his skin crawl.
Tears slipped out of her grass green eyes and ran down her cheeks, leaving wet trails down her face. She knew the risks as well as anyone; her older sister had been taken when Jessie was a little girl.
Woody couldn't hold himself back any longer and in two long strides he had closed the distance between them and taken her in his arms. Jessie buried her face in Woody's shirt, hands reaching up to hold the edges of his cow-skin vest.
"I'm sorry, Woody." He ran his hands down her back, resting his palms on her waist.
"I know you, Jessie. If you had known about the raid I know that you wouldn't have left. I was so worried when I couldn't find you, love."
The pet name left his lips before he willed it to do so and he cursed it in his head. That wasn't how he wanted her to find out that he loved her. Woody hoped that she hadn't heard him, or that she wouldn't think anything of it.
But she was too sharp for that and he knew it.
She tilted her head up to look at him, chin resting on his chest. Her eyes still shown with tears but the bright green orbs held a hint of amusement.
"'Love'?" Her voice was teasing but it also held a hopeful tone. His heart rate went sky high and he was sure that she feel it beneath her hands.
"Do you love me, Sheriff?" He was shocked into silence by her blunt question.
He could answer her question in one of two ways: he could tell her that he loved her but only as a sister, a lie as big as the sky itself, or he could tell her the truth.
Both options made his heart feel like it was about to beat out of his chest.
"Yes, I do. Have for years now as a matter of fact."
He didn't even have time to register that he had just confessed his deepest feelings for his best friend, for no sooner had the words left him did Jessie take a firm hold of his bandanna and pull him down to her level.
"I love you, too, cowboy."
Then she was kissing him, and it was wonderful.
Jessie smiled when he kissed her back, his arms tightening around her waist as hers slipped around his neck to pull him closer.
The two stood there in each other's embrace as the sun rose over the hills to give light to field below, shedding its light on the cowboy and cowgirl below.