Chapter 11

Eddy and Joe walked up to the livery stable. Joe tied Cochise to the hitching post outside and they walked in together. When the door opened, an older man turned and looked at her, "Eddy, me girl." He said in a heavy Scottish accent. "Why, I haven't seen ya in a lifetime." He said and pulled her in a hug. "We've missed ye and ya sister."

Eddy tried to smile, "Hi, Mr. Grimson."

Chris Grimson held Eddy by the shoulders. "Me girl, what happened to ye?!" He asked, noticing the deep cut in her eyebrow, swollen back eye, cut lip, and not to mention both her eyes were red. She had stray hairs framing her face and her hair up in a messy pony tail. Her clothes were tattered and dusty.

"It's nothing," She replied. "Mr. Grimson, I want you to meet Joe Cartwright." She said introducing the two.

Both men shook hands. "Pleasure to meet you, sir." Joe said.

"Aye, ye too, lad." Grimson replied.

"I need to get Cashe ready." Eddy said and went to tend to her horse.

Joe stopped her before she even took two steps. "Let me." He said, smiling. And went off to get Cashe ready.

Eddy smiled. "How much do I owe you, Mr. Grimson?"

"Cause it's ye, one bit." He smiled.

Eddy checked her pockets and noticed the little bit of money she did have was gone. That's when she noticed her handgun was gone as well. Sighing she looked up at Grimson. "I have to go to the bank." She said softly. "I don't have any money on me."

Grimson noticed that her holster was empty also. He took a step and put his hand on her shoulder. He turned and looked to see where Joe was. He pulled Eddy aside. "Me dear, what is going on?" He asked quietly, "Are ye and ya sister in trouble?"

Eddy looked up at the gentle old livery stable owner, "It's a long story."

"It has something to do with himself and herself, don't it?"

Eddy's eyes watered at the thought of her parents. "Part of it."

Grimson walked over to his desk and pulled out two pistols and grabbed two boxes of shells. "Take these. I'm sure if ya'r missin' ya gun, ye sister is too." He said and handed them to Eddy, "Don't ya worry 'bout Cashe. It's on me." He smiled.

"I can't accept this, Mr Grimson." Eddy said quietly.

"Take 'em." He said then added, "Catch Dawson."

Eddy looked at him, "What do ya know?"

"Well, himself's boy has a big mouth on him ya know." Grimson smiled. "And from the sounds of it, Dawson's boy had a couple fella's helpin' him."

"Rooster and Billy."

"Naw, more than those two." Grimson said and turned to see Joe walking up to them with Cashe in tow. "Ya take good care of her. Her and her sister are special lassies."

Joe smiled, "I will, sir." he answered and looked at Eddy, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," She said. Then turned to Grimson and gave him a hug, "Thank you."

Sam and the three remaining Cartwright men made their way to the original homestead on the Thunderbolt. The trip was quiet and Hoss stayed by Sam's side. Now and again he'd look at her. He couldn't even begin to understand the feelings that she was feeling. He could only grasp the feeling of a person's whole world crashing in, of losing everything. There wasn't anything that God couldn't replace, except family. Sam almost lost all of her family, save for her sister. And then finding that the only other person that she considered family was taken from her as well, he knew he couldn't do it himself. He'd lose it for sure if something ever happened to his Pa and brothers. That was why he admired Sam. She's a strong woman, to still be here and still be fighting.

They were just over half way there, when Joe and Eddy came up on them. They joined the group quietly. No words were said. Everyone knew that this was hard and just plain heartbreaking.

Everyone reached what was left of the homestead. The sun was starting to set over what was nothing but foundations of what was once a beautiful huge ranch. The Thunderbolt. Trees still showed signs of the fire. And the smell still slightly lingered in the air from what had happened six months ago. And just down from where the main house used to stand proud and tall was a huge oak tree. Under that tree were the two graves of Frank and Loretta Parker. Next to it was where they had dug Jake's grave.

Hoss had his arm wrapped around Sam as she stood there, silent tears running down her cheeks.

Eddy knelt next to the grave with tears flowing down her own cheeks. She placed her hand on the grave, "Sorry." She whispered, then took a hand full of dirt, stood up and sprinkled it.

She turned, looked at Sam but didn't say anything. She walked over to her sister and handed her the second gun that Grimson had given to her. "Are you with me?" She asked.

Sam took the gun, looked at her little sister and nodded.

Sam and Eddy went to walk away, when Ben stopped them. "Hold on." He said as the Cartwrights walked up to them. Hoss pulled Sam into a hug as Joe put his arm around Eddy. Ben looked at them, sadness etched on his face. "Now is not the time."

Adam nodded and placed his hat back on. "Pa's right. It's getting late."

Eddy and Sam looked at each other, then at Joe and Hoss. "They're right." Hoss said softly.

"Let's go into town and get a couple of hotel rooms. We all need a good night's rest, then we can deal with this tomorrow." Ben said and then looked at the girls. "You two need a good sleep."

"You're right." Sam said, looking at Ben and then at Eddy. "We're not going to be able to get anything done tonight anyway."

Eddy didn't say anything, she just nodded. She looked at Joe who had his arm around her shoulder, holding her close. "They are right." He said, "And I know you are exhausted."

Eddy smiled, "Yeah." She replied and looked at Sam. "You are too."

Sam smiled at her little sister. "Yeah, I am."

They had made the long trek back into town and checked in to the Doubletree hotel. Ben and Adam had each got their own room, while Joe and Hoss decided to share, as did Sam and Eddy. Everyone made the climb upstairs and down the hall to their respective rooms.

Once Eddy and Sam closed their door, Sam collapsed onto the bed, while Eddy was looking at her face in the mirror above the dresser. "I look like I've been trampled by a stampeding herd of wild buffalo."

Sam snorted. "Yeah, that's about how I feel." she said as she removed the gun from the waistband of her pants. "By the way, where'd you get the guns?"

"Hmm?" Eddy asked, as she looked back at her sister. She saw Sam waving the gun back and forth. "Oh, Mr. Grimson at the livery gave them to me. Figured we'd need them."

Sam frowned. "I have a feeling we just might." she said and placed the gun on the nightstand.

Eddy finished assessing the damage to her face, walked over and sat down on the bed. "He told me that Cal's been running his mouth off..."

"That surprises you?" Sam interrupted. "Cal's always had a big mouth."

Eddy removed her gun belt, then reached down and started to take her boots off. "No. It's just he told me that Cal has more than Billy and Rooster helping him."

"Who?" Sam asked, suddenly sitting up in bed.

"He didn't say. But I think that's because he doesn't know." Eddy replied. She finished taking her boots off and laid down on the bed. As she settled back, a sigh of contentment passed her lips. "I'm never going to take the comfort a bed for granted again." She looked over at Sam and noticed that her sister's brow was furrowed and she had a contemplative look about her features. "What's going on in that head of yours, sis?"

Sam shook her head. "What if Sheriff Walker is right? What if Mark Dawson didn't have anything do with all this?"

"You don't really believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, sister. But if what Mr. Grimson told you..."

"Sam, Mr. Grimson gave me the guns and told me we needed to catch Dawson. So he must believe he's got something to do with it."

Sam looked back at her sister. "Don't forget, little sister, Cal's last name was Dawson too. What if he's the Dawson Mr. Grimson was referring to."

Eddy sighed. "Look, it's late and I'm exhausted. So are you for that matter. Let's get some sleep and we'll talk about this in the morning."

Sam nodded. She knew Eddy was right. They needed some sleep, desperately. She removed her boots and laid back on the bed. It didn't take long for both girls to fall into a deep slumber.

In the next room, Joe was sitting by the window, listening to Hoss snore. He looked over at the bed and smiled. He almost came close to never hearing that sound again.

He looked back out the window and down to the street below. There were a few lights coming from random houses around the town but the street was deserted.

Just then a hand touched his shoulder and he about jumped out of his skin and three feet into the air. When he regained his wits about him, Joe looked at Hoss standing there. He hadn't even noticed that the snoring had stopped, nor did he hear the big man move.

"You okay, Little Joe?" Hoss asked, a concerned look creasing his handsome features.

Joe's heart was finally beating normally again and he nodded. "I'm fine, Hoss, go back to sleep."

"Ain't that what you should be doing too, little brother?"

Joe shook his head. He had laid down but couldn't keep himself still long enough to fall asleep. He just couldn't keep all the images and the what ifs out of his head.

"I can't sleep."

"You wanna talk about what's buggin' you?"

Joe walked back to the window and kept his back to Hoss. "I just can't stop thinking about everything that's happened. Eddy and Sam. Not mention how you almost..." Joe choked on the last word as tears sprang to his eyes.

"Hey, Joe, everything turned out okay..."

Joe turned around and looked at his big brother. "Yeah, but if Billy had of been a better shot..."

"And if he had wings he'd be able to fly." Hoss joked. "Look, Joe, you cain't keep pondering about the what ifs. That ain't no way to go about your life."

Joe knew his brother was right. He looked at Hoss in amazement. People often judged Hoss by his size and never got to know the man behind the girth. But Joe knew that his older brother was kind, gentle, had a big heart and was full of wisdom. He was proud to be kin to such a goodhearted man.

Joe wiped the tears from his face and gave Hoss a watery smile. "I know you're right."

"Besides, little brother, we got other things we should be concerning ourselves with."

"Like what?" Joe asked, slightly confused.

"Like what we're gonna have for breakfast come morning." Hoss winked.

Joe laughed. His brother was definitely still his old self and he was over the moon that Hoss was there with him now. He knew he would treasure every single moment to come that he would get to share with him.

"Now, what's say we get some shut eye?" Hoss asked, sitting back on the bed.

Joe nodded and made his way around to the other side. He was sure he'd be able to get some sleep now. Hoss always did have a knack at calming him.

The two brothers laid back down and this time Joe fell into a peaceful sleep.