Jasper was tired. It wasn't like there was ever much trouble in Spoons Valley other than the occasional brawl. Sure there was cow rustling going on, but usually the ranchers took care of their own business and didn't call in the law since nothing serious ever happened. He liked it that way. He read the papers from other western towns and was glad he didn't have to deal with the lowlifes that the "Wild West" usually seemed to attract. Sure, his town had lowlifes, he only had to look at the Bar None Ranch to see that. He knew that Mr. Mallory, the ranch owner, was a crooked fellow, but for the most part he kept his seedy cowpokes like James in line and as long as they weren't bothering town folk, well, he wasn't going to go stirring up trouble.
Lying in his bed he turned he tossed aside his paper, not really worrying about the reports from nearby of some towns terrorized by masked bandits, robbing banks, stealing large amounts of supplies from general stores, that sort of thing. He didn't think the trouble would reach Spoons Valley, but he was sure he was going to hear from Aro Volturi and his brothers Caius and Marcus about it anyway. Aro was the mayor and owner of the only coach line that came into town, Caius the bank owner, and Marcus, well, he was a mystery. He was a lawyer, but there wasn't much need for lawyering in these here parts so he made his living helping his brothers with their businesses. Rumor was that he was working behind the scenes to bring the railroad into town. Jasper knew that would be good business for the people here, but at the same time he hoped it didn't happen. He knew that railroads usually brought in people, and with more people came trouble.
Reaching for his pocket watch that was on the nearby bedside table, he flipped it open and noticed the time. Usually he didn't start making his rounds around town till after noon. Ben Cheney, his deputy, usually took care of things in the morning with their part-time deputy, Eric, and then they'd work together in the afternoon before Ben went home to his wife, Angela, in the evenings. It was a good arrangement for all of them especially now since Ben and Angie were expecting their first born any day now.
He chuckled as he got up to slip on his boots and wondered what the kid would look like. There was no doubt that Ben and Angie loved each other, but they made an odd pairing, at least physically. Ben was a whole head shorter than his tall, slender wife, but one got past the major height difference when they saw how much the pair loved each other.
After pulling his trousers down over his boots, he stood up and put on his overcoat and then went to the mirror to pin the brass star on his lapel. He still felt pride every time he put it on, but he knew it was his attitude and behavior that commanded respect not just some ornament on his jacket. Slipping on his cowboy hat as he left the room he made his way to the jail.
He passed a couple of the town's matrons along the way tipping his hat at them in greeting, and though the old women usually blushed like school girls whenever he greeted them, this time they were too busy twittering with each other to even notice and he wondered what had gotten them so riled up. As he turned the corner and saw a few men and women loitering outside the jail he knew something was definitely up and he wondered why Ben hadn't come to fetch him.
Making his way into the jail he closed the door behind him and saw Eric sitting there with a split lip, looking somewhat terrified towards the door passage that led to the two holding cells in the back.
"What's with you?" Jasper asked as he hung his hat on a nearby peg. "Where's Ben?"
Eric was green, new to being a deputy, but him and Ben had brought him on board knowing that they needed a bit more help. Eric glanced at him with wide, terrified eyes and Jasper couldn't help but laugh. "What? You got a tiger locked up back there or something?"
Eric shook his head quickly and then he was speaking a mile a minute. "Well, you see, Ben rushed on home because Angie was having her pains and he left me in charge figuring nothing was going to happen. Then the coach came in and there was this ruckus shortly after one of the passengers got off and the whole town was standing there! I didn't know what to do so I just brought them on in."
"Who'd you bring in? On what charges?" Jasper asked as he made his way towards the back to peer into the cells, expecting nothing less than a huge, hardened criminal from the way Eric was acting. But, as he turned the corner he stopped short in surprise.
At first he thought it was a child sitting there from how tiny she was, but the curves of her body gave her away, showing that she was a young woman. She was sitting there all prim and proper like, hands folded neatly on her lap, lost in the billows of her blue and white gingham dress trimmed with red ribbons. The image of the perfect little lady was a bit off when one noticed the streak of dirt across her nose and the way her blue and white bonnet trimmed with more red ribbon and little red fabric flowers was sitting askew on her head.
When her eyes lifted off her hands on her lap and met his he was pretty darn sure that his heart stopped beating for a moment before it started thumping like a jackrabbit in heat. Her eyes widened ever so slightly and stayed on his a moment before they drifted to his sheriff's pin on his lapel then she started to wail.