"Mummy! It's Mrs. Hughes's carriage."

"Then you'd best get your things." Anna smiled at the bouncing brown curls hurrying to gather her things while Anna watched from her mending at the table.

When a knock came to the door Anna nodded her head toward the beds, "You'd best sequester yourself away, Mr. Bates. I don't want anyone seeing you."

He limped toward the alcove, dodging Lizzie's speedy exit, and drew the curtain to hide himself from view. Ana stood, straightening a side as a steady knock echoed through the wood of the door. In a few steps she was across the boards and pulling the door open to smile at the woman there. "She's more than ready for you Mrs. Hughes."

"I'm a bit early so I do hope it's no trouble." Mrs. Hughes smiled, "How's she this morning?"

"As wonderful as ever." Anna bent to kiss Lizzie's cheeks as the girl stopped by the door, "You remember to be good for Mrs. Hughes, yes?"

"Yes Mummy." Lizzie kissed her mother before running for the wagon.

"She's one of the best and most well behaved, Anna. She does you credit."

"I hope so Mrs. Hughes." Anna waved to Lizzie, "I hope so."

Once Lizzie climbed aboard the wagon and Mrs. Hughes snapped the reins for the horses to turn out of the yard Anna turned back to the interior of the house, focusing on the curtain, "You can come out now Mr. Bates."

He pushed the separating curtain back, "Thank you, for not giving me away."

"You're doing me a good turn, Mr. Bates." Anna collected the dishes off the table, "That deserves my gratitude, which is what this is."

"I don't know how much good I'll be to you as I am." He tapped his bandaged leg. "Until it fully heals I shouldn't risk tearing it open again by riding."

"I'm well aware of how the body heals and what it needs, Mr. Bates." Anna scraped any of the spare food into a pail before rinsing the dishes in her makeshift sink. "I'm well versed in how to repair the body."

"Then how will I help?"

"I assume you can still teach, with your leg as it is." Anna dried her hands, leaving the dishes to drip dry next to the sink before ducking into the alcove to retrieve his guns from under her bed. "Giving me instructions can't be that difficult."

"It's not but breaking horses is about more than instructions."

"I'm a quick learner." Anna pulled his gun belt from the cupboard, holding it out to him. "I hope this convinces you that I'm putting my trust in you for this."

John went to take them but withdrew his hand. "I feel like this is a test."

"I'm not so cruel, Mr. Bates." Anna nodded toward them. "It'd be wrong of me to keep these from you."

"Thank you." He took the belt, putting it on with such speed one could say it was more instinct than thought. His fingers edged over the comfortable leather before looking back at her, "What about my rifle?"

"You've only got the two hands and you won't need it if I have mine." Anna knotted her hair back into a secure braid before grabbing her hat and rifle. "We've somewhere to be I believe."

He grinned, motioning her toward the door, "Lead the way Ms. Smith."

They walked to the paddock, Anna pulling the gate open for John to enter first. Pulling the gate shut she latched it and nodded for him to open the gate at the other end. She pulled the looped rope off a post and tossed it to him.

"You'd best get the ones you want to start with."

He spoke, focused on the rope he was tying as he needed, "Have you done this before? You were vague in your answer this morning."

"I've done it a few times. Mostly with a gentler load than this lot but I've done it." Anna held her rifle in her hands, "Why do you ask?"

"Because if it was your first time I'd need to demonstrate and we both know I'm in no condition to do that."

"No you're not."

"Then I'll assume you're confident enough to climb on an unbroken horse."

Anna rested her rifle against one of the posts of the paddock, taking the rope from his hands. "Confident enough to do it with your help."

"I'm flattered you think I can help you."

"It's more a partnership of necessity, Mr. Bates." Anna walked slowly into the larger enclosure, eyeing a few of the horses. "Though I'm still curious why you chose the few you did this morning. The ones you had laying down in there."

"You can tell a lot about a horse based on how it reacts to the others around it." John pointed to one of the closer ones, "He bit at least three others this morning so he's got a temper but he'll go anywhere those two fillies go and they follow that mare."

"Lead her and I get the others to follow?"

John nodded, "Horses aren't a pack like wolves are but they still follow group dynamics that people do."

"Is that what led you to Vera?" Anna worked the rope in her hand, flicking it at the mare's legs to get her to move toward the paddock.

"I guess the Army broke me in just the right way that I succumbed to the influence of a dominant personality." John pointed to a smaller horse standing near the first he noted. "I was him."

"How so?"

"Just lead her into the paddock and you'll see."

Anna guided the mare into the smaller space, clicking her tongue at the horse while speaking calmly to it. She obeyed, snorting a bit and ruffling her head as she accustomed herself to the space. Just as John said the fillies followed, the biting stallion close behind them, with the last horse he mentioned pulling in a sulking last. John closed the gate, stepping close to the fence to give the five horses room to spread and acclimate to their new surroundings.

Anna pointed to the skulking horse. "You followed where she led?"

"I followed what I thought was a leader hoping to change the world." John limped closer to Anna, resting back against the fence and stretched out his leg. "I joined the Army young, as a way to live. I went anywhere they told me to and by the time I finished my service I didn't have anything left of myself. I was lost."

"Or you just never found yourself to begin with."

"You sound like one who speaks from experience."

Anna shrugged, "I know a bit of what it's like to never have the opportunity to really discover who you are. To never have the chance to discover what you want because you've never had the opportunity to think about it."

"And now?" The confusion must have shown on her face because John explained. "You own all of what I can see, I assume, and you live alone with a young daughter on this spread. A woman who doesn't know what she wants wouldn't survive that kind of pressure to produce. Not in the unforgiving climate that defines men by the crags and creases in their face from the weathering of sun and wind."

"You're right, I do know now." Anna walked the length of the paddock, retrieving her rifle to drop it outside the paddock. "I want to build a life for my daughter and I."

"Here?"

"No." Anna shook her head, waving a hand at the land around them. "I don't want to keep all this."

"Then why bother with it?"

"Because the Crawleys, who want to buy this land to extend their interests, won't be back from the East for another week and that's when the deal finalizes."

"You're selling up?"

"As you said, Mr. Bates, I'm a woman fighting for my life out here. I've a daughter to think about and I've no interest in staying around to see if I can scratch a living out on rocks and dirt." Anna secured the rope in her hands, turning to the mare. "To business then."

They spent the whole day breaking the five horses. With the others fending for themselves in the larger enclosure Anna and John worked their first group until any of the five could take Anna on their back without a saddle. She slipped from the last horse, allowing him to follow the others to a corner, and rubbed at her backside.

"Sore?" Anna raised an eyebrow at John and he held up his hands, "I was asking in concern."

"Why? Do you have a way to rub the soreness out of one's ass?"

"I do but you'd think I was propositioning you and seeing as I'm already on tenterhooks I'd rather stay on your good side."

"Excellent choice Mr. Bates." Anna looked up at the sound of a wagon and cursed, "They're back already."

"Do you want me to run to the barn?"

"You'd never make it and then I'd look suspiciously guilty." Anna squinted, pulling her hat back to sigh, "And Mrs. Hughes brought her husband."

"Is that bad?"

"Mrs. Hughes is the school teacher in town and Sheriff Carson is her husband."

John shrugged, "I did state my initial intention was to turn myself in."

"You've not helped me break the other horses."

"You did alright with the ones we handled today."

"You told me which ones to choose." Anna opened the door, grabbing her rifle from the ground and dropping the rope after John exited as well. "Guess I'm on my own from here on out."

"It would appear that way." John untied the strings from his thighs and unbuckled his gun belt, handing it over to Anna.

She took it, frowning, "Why are you handing me this?"

"Because I won't need it in the cell Sheriff Carson's got for me." John winked, "You said as much yourself."

"Then give them to him."

"But you could sell them. The famous guns of outlaw John Bates would fetch you a decent price and then you and Lizzie could take yourselves away from here. Maybe even all the way back to England."

"I doubt England would take kindly to a westernized widow and her feral daughter."

"I may've only shared breakfast with her, and I admit she's got a mouth faster than any train I've ever seen, but she's far from feral."

Anna narrowed her eyes at John, ignoring the wagon stopped just in front of her porch. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because you could've shot me. You should've left me to die from my wounds. And nothing but a Samaritan instinct told you to give me any kind of repair." John tipped his hat to her, "You've already done me more turns than I deserve and I won't forget them."

Anna went to speak but a gruff bass voice interrupted her thoughts and she turned to greet the man with severe eyebrows and a prominent nose that he used to look down on them. "Sheriff Carson, what a lovely surprise to have you here."

"I thought I should look in when Ms. Elizabeth mentioned to Mrs. Hughes that you had a man staying with you."

"She would say that." Anna rested her rifle against the fence, draping the gun belt over the nearest beam in the fence before using both her hands to motion to John. "This is John Bates."

If it had been possible, or anatomically probable, Anna was sure Sheriff Carson's head would have exploded at the mention of John's name. He blustered a moment, struggling for words as Mrs. Hughes brought Lizzie over to her mother. Anna bent, picking the girl up and brushing some curls from her eyes.

Lizzie hung her head, "Was I not supposed to tell?"

"It's alright." John put a hand toward her, soothing her worries, "I needed to meet Sheriff Carson anyway and you just gave us an introduction. I'm glad I could count on you to tell him about me."

"Ms. Smith," Anna turned to Sheriff Carson, "Do you have any idea the kind of man you've been harboring in your home?"

"I know exactly who I allowed to sleep in my barn last night." Anna specified, noting the slight ease in Sheriff Carson's shoulders. "I also know that I helped repair his injury and he did me a good turn as repayment for that."

"One good deed doesn't wipe out a lifetime of wicked and immoral behavior."

"It also doesn't mean she should've lynched him in her own bar, Mr. Carson." Mrs. Hughes chided, putting out a hand to John, "From what Lizzie tells me you're a gentle soul with some amusing stories to tell."

"Gentle soul?" Sheriff Carson continued but Mrs. Hughes ignored him.

"I'm sure you just lost your way on the path somewhere."

"I lost a great many things, Mrs. Hughes." John shook her hand and turned to Sheriff Carson. "As it happens, I was under an agreement with Ms. Smith to turn myself in this morning but once she fixed my leg I wasn't in any condition to ride."

"And I'm sure that's what you told Ms. Smith."

"That's the truth, Sheriff." Anna scowled, holding Lizzie closer. "I trust John Bates was nothing but honest with me."

"Just like he was nothing but honest with those he robbed and killed from Wichita to Santa Fe."

"Be that as it may," Anna held up a hand to stop Sheriff Carson's continuing tirade. "He's been honest with me so far and I won't besmirch what little honor he has by implying he meant to hoodwink me."

"Sheriff Carson," John held out his wrists, "I present myself for arrest."

Sheriff Carson huffed a moment before reaching into the wagon to pull out some rope. He took a moment to tie it over John's wrists and then helped him into the back of the wagon. Anna put a hand on Sheriff Carson's arm, stopping him a moment.

"I know this is a it awkward for you, Sheriff, but he was honest with me. I gave him a bed in my barn for the night and that's all. He offered me his help with my horses."

"I trust your word, Ms. Smith, but I don't trust a known outlaw free in my town." Sheriff Carson helped Mrs. Hughes onto the seat and Lizzie waved goodbye to her. "He'll be held in town until we can get a Marshall in from Kansas."

Anna nodded, adjusting Lizzie on her hip, and turned to John. "Thank you, for your help."

"It was my pleasure, Ms. Smith." He pointed his tied hands toward the guns. "Use those to make yourself a better life Ms. Smith, with my compliments and blessings."

"Not sure I can do much with your blessings, Mr. Bates, but I'll take the compliments all the same."

He smiled at her as the wagon jolted, pulling him about as Sheriff Carson and Mrs. Hughes drove toward town. Anna frowned, starting when Lizzie wrapped her arms around her neck. With a smile she turned toward Lizzie, brushing back some of her hair.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Anna shook her head, reaching down to grab the gun belt. "It's just a shame Lizzie, nothing more than that."

"What'll happen to him?"

"Justice, I think." Anna headed toward the house. "This is what happens."

"Is he a bad man?"

"No one's just a bad man but he's not entirely a good man either."

"But he was good to us."

"Yes he was." Anna shook her head, holding the gun belt. "He was good to us."