Chapter 1 – Goodbyes and New Beginnings
She stood in front of her door watching the big marshal ride away with his two prisoners. He'd already buried the third one, the one he'd shot. Somehow her place seemed empty. The men he was taking with him were robbers and murders and she was glad they weren't drinking her whiskey anymore. As soon as the riders were out of sight, she sighed and ducked back inside.
Knowing the man who just rode off had to see it through to the end with his prisoners, she resigned herself to waiting. There was nothing for her but to wait until he'd fulfilled his duty to the badge before she might see him again. Oh, but when she saw him, he'd take notice. The more she thought about it over the next few weeks, the more convinced she was that she'd make him see things more her way than his. The truth was that her home was where her heart was and her heart was with him.
Matt Dillon didn't look back. He'd said everything to her that needed to be said and hoped she understood. As they rode down the trail, he put all his focus on getting his prisoners before a judge. The only thing he hadn't decided about the charges was whether or not to add his kidnapping with intent to murder to the murder charge. His friend, the sheriff in Ashland, was dead and his two prisoners, one of whom planned it all as revenge for the abuse he felt Matt had handed him, were two of the three who'd killed him.
A day was all it took to reach their destination. Matt kept a close eye on the prisoners as they rode south from the farm. He'd have rather the trial take place farther north in Dodge where he was sure of a conviction, but this was much shorter even if the town itself was also on trial. He rode south. The trial took place in Ashland where somehow a jury was found to convict the men who'd scared them into shunning a US Marshal. They even hung Loy Bishop and his remaining goon there. As Matt rode out of the town, he was satisfied that the murder trial was enough to compensate him for the false summons from Sheriff Hale and the near loss of his life. It was time to get on his buckskin and ride for home before the Texans tore it apart.