Marston Ranch, Beecher's Hope, September 25, 1911
"Now listen," John said, addressing his family, "Jack, darling, get on this horse. Get out of here. Go find a place to hide."
"You're coming with us, Pa," Jack said.
"I'll catch up," John lied. "You keep riding and don't look back and don't be worrying about me, you hear? Now get going."
"You stay out of trouble, John," Abigail said, concerned for her husband's safety.
"Ain't no trouble, Abigail," John responded. "Ain't no trouble." He quickly gave her one last kiss and said, "I love you."
"I love you," she replied, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Now go. Git!" John spanked the horse and it galloped off. Just before it reached the fence, however, Jack jumped off and sprinted toward the barn.
"Jack! Get back here now!" Abigail shouted. Jack ignored her and silently entered the barn. He quickly hid in one of the stalls and stared at his father, who was breathing heavily and standing in front of the double doors that led to what Jack could assume was a group of army soldiers. He watched in horror as his father opened those doors and gasped at the sight of the large firing squad before his father.
"No!" Jack yelled, running up to his father. John, in his own world, didn't notice Jack as he drew his revolver and gunned down as many men as he could. It wasn't enough, and Jack looked on as the rest of the firing squad shot John down. He fell to the ground, dead.
Edgar Ross stepped forward and laughed in Jack's face. "Your bastard father is dead, kid," he said.
"How could you? After all he did for you?" Jack asked wildly. Ross just laughed again.
"We couldn't let him live," Ross said. "And now we can't let you live." Ross lifted his gun and pointed it in Jack's face. Jack closed his eyes as Ross pulled the trigger and three loud bangs sounded from the gun.
Jack Marston awoke to the sound of pounding on the front door. He quickly sat up in bed, panting and sweating heavily. The sunlight that came through his window indicated to Jack that it was the middle of the day and that he had slept in again. He groaned in agony and flipped over, slamming his face down hard on his pillow, wanting nothing more than to shut out the world. Four more knocks aggravated Jack even more, and he quickly got up out of bed and walked to the front door.
Before Jack could open the door, the person behind it knocked twice more, and a feminine voice said, "Is anyone home?" Jack immediately recognized the voice as Bonnie MacFarlane's, and he opened the door for her. He squinted as direct sunlight hit his eyes.
"Jack? Did you just wake up? You've got a bad case of bedhead," Bonnie said, chuckling.
"Uh, yeah," he stammered. "I slep' in."
"Is your Pa home?" Bonnie asked innocently. Nobody had told her of John's death yet. "I just wanted to drop by, see how the ranch is doin'."
"We're doin' fine," Jack growled, annoyed for no particular reason.
"Jack, you alright? Did somethin' happen to John?"
Just then, Abigail emerged from her room, her face tear-stained. She had been crying almost every moment since John had been gunned down, and having heard his name she figured Bonnie had the right to know what had happened.
"Bonnie..." she began, but her emotions overtook her and she broke down in tears. Bonnie's eyes widened; she didn't know exactly what was wrong, but she feared the worst.
"Is...is he..." Bonnie fumbled with her words for a few seconds, not knowing what to say. "Why? Who? When did..."
Jack interrupted her by saying, "We buried him on the hill behind the barn." Knowing exactly what was going on now, Bonnie's expression turned from shock to sadness. She leaned against the door frame, tears falling down her face. Her friend, the man so dedicated to saving his family, was dead. She wiped tears from her eyes, remembering the first day she had met him and how their friendship had evolved over time.
Confusion combined with her sadness, and she asked, "How could this be? Just last week I sold him some cattle, and he came for grain not even a week ago. When...when did it...you know, happen?"
"Come on in, Bonnie," Jack said, motioning for her to enter. Bonnie stepped in, crying heavily now. "They came two days ago," Jack continued, sitting down on the couch in front of the fireplace. "We ain't sure why they...did what they did."
Jack stopped talking when he realized that both Abigail and Bonnie were crying, apparently not listening to him. Jack sighed and stood up, fighting back tears himself. He wanted so badly to cry, but he knew that with John gone, it was up to him to be the man of the house, so he chose not to cry to set an example for Abigail. Still, it wasn't particularly easy for the young teenager to hold in his emotions.
A few minutes later, Abigail returned to her room, still crying, and Bonnie approached Jack, who was now sitting at the kitchen table. Her face was red, but for the time being she had stopped crying. "Jack, what are you gonna do now?" she asked, genuinely concerned about the future of the Marston family.
"I don't know," he responded, running his hand through his hair. "I guess I gotta become the man of the ranch."
"I can relate," Bonnie said, sitting beside Jack. When Jack gave her a confused look, she quickly added, "I mean, I ain't a man, but bein' the only MacFarlane child on the ranch and with daddy bein' the way he is, I had to step up and become the man of the ranch, so to speak."
"How'd you do that?" Jack asked, perking his head up in interest.
"Well I...it's not somethin' you can just explain, Jack," Bonnie said.
"Then teach me," Jack said, sitting up straight. "I don't know anythin' about runnin' a ranch. I could use the help, if you got the time."
"Trust me, Jack, I would help you in a heartbeat. It's just I don't know how I'd run my family ranch and the one here."
"You don't have to run this one. Just show me what I gotta do, then be on your way. You can trust your Pa to watch over the ranch for a week or two, right?"
"I don't know..."
"And you got them ranch hands there, too. I think they can manage without you, at least while you teach me 'bout this ranchin' stuff."
Bonnie stood up and Jack did the same. "Tell you what," Bonnie said, "I'll teach you what you need to know. Just give me a few days to make arrangements."
"Whatever you need, Miss MacFarlane," Jack said respectfully.
A new wave of sadness hit Bonnie hard when Jack called her "Miss MacFarlane", as that's what John used to call her. She remembered always insisting that he call her Bonnie, and a whole wave of memories hit her like a hurricane. She bit her lip, trying not to show her sadness. She didn't want Jack to think he had brought this on, even though he had.
Jack still noticed that she was sad, and he asked, "You wanna pay respects at his grave?" Bonnie nodded and Jack led her to the top of the hill where John was buried. Bonnie knelt over the grave, but was soon so overcome with emotion that she just collapsed, laying on her stomach over the mound of dirt that covered John's body. Her body shook with each sob, and her tears fell down her face and onto the dirt mound. Jack walked to the barn to check on the horses, leaving her alone at John's grave.
"John," Bonnie whispered, still crying, "why'd you have to go and get yourself killed? And I wasn't even there to save you this time." Bonnie did her best to pull herself together and was able to get to her knees after about a minute. "I love you, you bastard outlaw."
The sound of Jack's footsteps stopped Bonnie from further expressing her feelings. She stood up and faced him. "The horses doin' fine?" she asked.
"Somethin' seems to be botherin' them, and I can't figure out what it is," Jack responded.
"They wanna be let out, Jack. Lead 'em into the corral."
"Yes ma'am." Jack began to run down the hill.
"Wait!" Bonnie shouted. Jack looked back up at her on top of the hill as she pointed to the grave next to John's. "Who's Uncle?" she asked.
Jack bit his lip, almost becoming emotional again. "He was a friend," he said. "He helped us fight them government agents."
"Well the man's sacrifice was noble," Bonnie said, bowing respectfully at Uncle's grave. She walked down the hill with Jack, and together they let the three horses in the barn into the corral. The two of them stood and watched as the proud animals trotted around happily.
"Y'know, I wanna know who it was that led them agents," Bonnie said, her temper rising. "The nerve of that man...why, I'd whoop him in a heartbeat if I knew who he was."
"I'm not too sure, but I think I might know who it was," Jack said. "When they took me and Ma, one of them mentioned the name Edgar Ross. He was the one who told them to take us away, and he might've been the one who ordered the attack on our ranch."
Bonnie frowned. "Whoopin' him would be a big issue. If I'm not mistaken, he's the one in charge of the Bureau. Looks like I can't do anythin' after all."
That gave Jack an idea. For the last two nights, he had been having nightmares about the attack, and each night the only face he could remember besides his mother's and father's was the face of Edgar Ross. He was extremely pissed at Ross for ordering the attack on the ranch and for gunning down his father just as it looked like things were going to return to normal. Jack wanted nothing more than to kill Ross himself, watch his father's murderer die. That would be justice.
Then again, it would also be murder, and Jack knew that he could face trouble if he chose to go through with that. He continued thinking about this as Bonnie said, "Well...if yer just gonna stand there like a bump on a log, I'm headin' back to the ranch. I'll be back around in a few days. Don't worry, Jack. Everythin's gonna be alright." Bonnie mounted her horse, and as she trotted away, Jack made the mental decision to kill Edgar Ross. He didn't know how or when, but he was going to do it.
And nothing was going to stop him.