Disclaimer- Stephenie still owns the usual suspects.
I own my original characters and original story.
Unbeta-ed and Drabble-ish. No heavy angst.
*A word of explanation from last chapter. Memphis, like a lot of cities during the period of reconstruction, was not the safest of places. A year before Izzy and Ed made their trek across Tennessee, deadly riots had broken out in the city. Union soldiers were in charge, which only caused tensions to run higher.
***************************************WYiMA*************************************
I waked the next mornin' havin' to piss so bad my back teeth was near swimmin'. As much as I hated to leave Izzy, even if only for a minute, there was no avoidin' it.
Her warm little body had been wrapped 'round mine for most of the night, and I had a secret wish that she'd get scared every night if'n it meant she'd sleep up against me like that.
We would be spendin' the day cuttin' south across the city, so's to pick up the road that would lead us into Mississippi. I was still a might nervous 'bout what we might run into along the way, but it was better to face it durin' the daylight hours.
Once we got cleared of Memphis, I had a plan formulatin' in my mind where I was gonna be honest 'bout my feelins and kiss Izzy right on the mouth. Once I did that, there'd be no turnin' back; she'd have to agree to be my wife.
I smiled at the mere thought of it.
After relievin' myself, I was makin' my way back to camp when I 'bout jumped outta my skin at the sound of Jack barkin' and growlin'. I knowed his sounds by now and this meant only one thing: an intruder.
I hot-footed it back, and the scene that met my eyes was one I couldn't have imagined in a million years. Jack was growlin' and gnashin' his teeth while Izzy stood beside him. She had a raised rifle in her hands, aimed at none other than my good friend Jake Black.
"Go ahead, I dare ya to move a muscle Mister, I been itchin' to shoot somebody since yesterday." Izzy telled Jake in a vicious tone, her eyes wild with fury.
Jake, displayin' the common sense the good Lord gave him, had his hands raised in surrender and stood there, still as stone.
"Izzy!" I called as I comed up on her, "put down the gun. This here's my best friend, Jake."
She gave me a wary eye, and looked around, no doubt makin' sure that no one was forcin' me to say the words. I grabbed onto the barrel of the gun, pushin' down 'til it was aimed at the ground.
"Izzy," I said her name softly this time, afore wrestin' the gun from her grasp and wrappin' my arms around her tremblin' form. "It's allright Izzy. I got ya."
I turned toward my friend, while still holdin' on to Izzy. "Not that I ain't glad to see ya, but why in the world is ya here, Jake?"
Jake finally put his arms down and took a breath. "I took to the road almost five days ago to warn ya." He then looked at Izzy and removed his hat. "I take it this here's Izzy Swan?"
I nodded.
"Well Miss, ya got some folks lookin' for ya. To make matters worse, some of 'em got it in their heads that my friend Ed here spirited ya away and that his purposes was less than honorable. They wanna take ya back home, and teach Ed a lesson while they's about it."
***************************************A/N**************************************
A/N Oh my. More excitement to come… let me know your thoughts.