Paradise

Dakota looked over at Charlie who sat in a nearby chair. It'd been a quiet morning in town, all the riffraff sleeping in it seemed. So they'd picked up some vittles at the restaurant and then just sat talking in the marshal's office.

"See the latest round of wires that came in overnight?"

Charlie shook his head.

"I know there's a stack of them. It seems there's action everywhere but here. That means we'll be seeing more of it soon and with Ethan out of town, we might need to deputize some people to help us."

Dakota sighed.

"I hope it doesn't come to that. I was enjoying all this quiet. Really helps my poker game."

Charlie chuckled.

"You picked up a lot of cash last night," he said, "You buying the losers a couple of rounds at the bar helped keep you alive longer."

Dakota shrugged.

"They weren't that angry."

"That's not what I heard Dakota. They think you're a cheat."

Dakota laughed.

"Yeah…they'll have to prove it…"

He sorted through the wires frowning.

"Let's see, bank robbed in Virginia City…train hold up outside Stockton. A woman who was kidnapped from a saloon in Reno…I'd liked to have seen that…Sacramento's grangers meeting is canceled due to a workers' strike and…what's this in Colorado Springs? An unidentified woman showed up and they're trying to track down a relative…I wonder if she's real pretty…"

Charlie shook his head.

"What'd I say? Things are happening everywhere but here."

"Ethan's in Reno so he probably knows about the kidnapping," Dakota said, "Maybe he'll send us a wire about it."

"He went there on what kind of business again?"

Dakota smiled.

"He's settling his…domestic affairs."

"His what?"

"His woman wired him, wanted him to ride on out there. That's his business."

"Amelia…has resurfaced."

"Who else?"

Somewhere outside of Reno…

Ethan and Ethan set up camp to rest a bit, maybe nap under some trees because it got too damn hot to cross the small stretch of arid desert.

"Best we try doing some riding at night," Ethan Cord said, "Take ourselves a siesta."

Ethan Cooper tied his horse to a tree.

"Probably right…I got some tequila in the saddlebag if you'd like to share."

"No thanks…I think I'll just find some water," he said, "I know there's a stream around here."

"Suit yourself."

Ethan found water and the men filled their canteens. Then they found some decent shade under some trees not too far away. They sat down and after checking for snakes, they lay down in the tall grass turning brown under the hot sun.

"So you think you're going to find this Pearl where we're going?"

"Might…I think she'd be heading in this direction," Ethan said, "with Amelia…"

"So you were engaged to her but she left you?"

Ethan didn't want to get into the details of that part of their relationship. She'd contacted him out of the blue but hadn't been in Reno when he'd arrived. He knew she wouldn't leave him in the lurch like that so she must be the woman who'd sprung Pearl from the Cactus Flower.

"Sounds like a volatile engagement."

Ethan shot him a look.

"I didn't turn my back on my children."

The other man bristled as he reached for the tequila bottle.

"I had my reasons…and they were good at the time," he said, "but I want to make it right. I want to try to be a father. I mean Michaela's been taking good care of them but they need a father."

Ethan frowned.

"I thought they had a father. Michaela married after all."

"She sure did and there's nothing with Sully. He's a good man if a bit eccentric but he's not their father."

Ethan Cord had heard the same argument about him being the one raising his sister's children often enough. But he knew he'd done right by them, the very best he could considering his own violent past. Still every time his history came back to haunt them, it put the children in danger.

Not to mention Amelia.

Finally she hadn't just walked away from him, she'd run and implored him not to stop her. He'd missed her so much.

He closed his eyes while Ethan Cooper prattled on and drifted off to a restless sleep.

Colorado Springs

Matthew drank the lemonade that Pearl gave him and thanked her for it. She smiled at him.

"No problem…I know you've been working so hard," she said, "and keeping the town safe from the bad men."

"That's my job," he said, "but I'm not going to do it forever. Got my eye on studying the law."

Her eyes brightened.

"You mean be a lawyer? You're doing all that book learning and being the sheriff?"

He nodded.

"It's not easy but Colleen's doing the same thing only she wants to be a doctor like Ma. So I thought I'd do the same thing. Only reason I became the sheriff is because the town needed one."

"That makes sense. You got to have the law…it's just back in Reno…the marshal was as bad as everyone else. He's over the sheriff who'd not so bad…just weak. The marshal's a bad man."

Matthew frowned.

"It shouldn't be that way. But I know in some places…the lawmen become corrupted by their power. They become the worst kind of outlaws."

She smiled because he understood it. Her eyes glanced at the faded photo on his desk of the young woman with the pretty smile.

Ingrid. His former fiancée who'd died of the hydrophobia. She knew he still wore that pain like he wore his badge only not so visible. He stood up and stretched.

"I have to go check the wires that I sent out on your friend," he said, "Hope something came back on who she might be."

She followed him out of the office.

Claire left the mercantile and ran into a young woman with darker hair, about her age. The woman smiled at her and headed to the barber shop. She started back to the hotel and ran into Matthew and Pearl.

The sheriff smiled at her.

"Hi there…you're not from around here…"

She smiled back at him finding him handsome, but he looked young for a lawman. A few years younger than Dakota though she didn't know the deputy marshal's age.

"No…I'm just visiting. I hear you have a Founder's Day celebration coming up."

He nodded somewhat ruefully.

"It's in the planning stages now. If we get past that I suppose there'll be a celebration."

"Any problems?"

"The usual arguing over whether the decorations should be this color or that. At least I haven't had to break up any brawls over it."

Claire smiled, thinking that was just like Paradise. She wondered why the two towns were locked in some kind of feud.

"That sounds familiar."

"Where you heading off to?"

She shrugged.

"I was heading to get something to eat," she said, "I heard that a woman named Grace is the best cook in town."

"You heard right…she operates a restaurant next to where her husband Robert works as the blacksmith."

"Thanks…it's nice to meet you…"

He stuck out his hand.

"Matthew Cooper…"

She took it and they shook.

"I'm Claire Carroll.

"I'll remember that," he said, "I guess I'd better head to the wire office to check on what's come in."

She smiled at him and headed off to Grace's restaurant to pick up some food.

Amelia had fallen asleep and Michaela wondered about her. They were no closer to figuring out her identity.

Not much to identify her, only a curious accent and a gunshot wound below her shoulder. Most of the time it was outlaws who carried bullet scars but somehow…it didn't seem to fit the young woman. There had to be more to it than that…much more.

The door opened and she saw Sully enter with Katie who he handed off to Michaela before kissing her on the mouth. She loved the way he kissed her, the way he did so many things. After they separated, he looked down at Amelia.

"Any news about her identity?"

She shook her head.

"Matthew sent some wires but still nothing."

He went to pour himself some lemonade.

"Maybe he'll get lucky," he said, "but it's a big country and unless someone's out looking for her, we might not know who she is unless she gets her memory back."

"That could happen. Her head injury wasn't that serious. But there's no timetable on this kind of condition."

Sully sighed.

"This Founder's Day is already starting a lot of fights. Matthew's had his hands full with half the town fighting with the other half over it."

She shook her head.

"It's so silly. It should be a time of celebration not conflict. Goodness knows we have enough of that already."

She settled in a chair with Katie on her lap as Sully joined her.

Amelia looked around her and saw the town that should look familiar…it almost did and yet. There were people all around her and men driving wagons and riding horses in the street.

Men with guns in front of her and around her. Suddenly a little boy ran out in the street in the midst of it and all that she could think about was protecting him.

From what and who was he? Was he her child?

She didn't know but she dashed into the street to shield him and suddenly, she heard the popping sound of gunfire and something like a hot poker strike her. Before the pain could fill her, everything went dark.

What had happened, and then she remembered hearing voices. Someone, a man pleading with her not to die.

Someone holding her hand and squeezing it. She tried to open her eyes but they wouldn't budge and she felt herself drifting away.

Further away while someone held onto her to keep her from leaving entirely.

"Don't go…I won't let you go…"

"Don't try to stop me…"

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know…"

"You're never coming back are you?"

Then she woke up with a start. She looked around her and saw Sully sitting there and hear Michaela singing to Katie.

"You're awake."

She looked at the man with the long brown hair and the leather jacket. A most interesting man she had learned but a loving husband and father including to three children not born of his bloodlines.

Someone like…she struggled to remember but nothing came to her.

"I was shot…"

He nodded.

"Dr. Mike said you have a bullet scar."

She reached for it instinctively.

"I was in a street and there was a little boy," she said, "I had to protect him but I don't know why."

"Maybe he's your son. Maybe you have a husband who's out looking for you."

She felt confused.

"I don't know…I don't remember much more than when I started."

Sully smiled.

"You'll remember more as time passes," he said, "Dr. Mike will help you. She's a great doctor."

Amelia nodded, realizing that. Colleen walked into the room.

"I went to Jake's," she said, "He's trying to work on the decorations but Theresa doesn't like his ideas much."

Michaela shook her head.

"Those two…always fighting when underneath it all they really care for each other."

Amelia listened, thinking that seemed familiar to but she didn't understand why just like with everything else that came into her mind.

She wondered if she'd figure it out so she felt less lost than she did right now.

Denver

The tall man rejoined his posse after leaving the state office. He'd been seeking additional men to search for the two women who'd escaped. But his contacts weren't eager to help him unless he proved to them that they were violating laws requiring intervention by the military.

After all they'd been burned by him before several years ago.

He scowled when he remembered how they'd ridden off and left him dealing with a standoff between him and some town folks including one of the women he was searching for now.

Amelia.

She'd been a handful, much more than he anticipated. He thought her leaving Ethan would have knocked some sense in her head but no such luck.

Well he was going to get his men and go searching for her and Pearl who'd escaped her contract with the saloon.

As soon as he and his men rested up, they'd be heading down south to search for them there.