Chapter 3

In the next instant the boxes in her hand went flying through the air and she saw a large hand reaching towards her. Oh Lord! It was the same man as before...from in front of the saloon. But this time he was soaking wet, hatless, and...enraged!

"Why don't ya watch where you're goin', ya stupid girl?!" the man shouted as his large hand grabbed her arm roughly.

"Oh my heavens!" exclaimed a shocked Mrs. Collins. Elizabeth had been so terrified at the sight of the man's massive form in front of her, she had forgotten the presence of all the folks around them. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see quite a large crowd had gathered with a horrified Sarah standing amongst them. But still the man kept his tight grip on her arm.

Looking up into his repulsive face, she stuttered fearfully, "I-I'm s-sorry s-sir, please let me go."

"You heard the lady...get your damn hands off of her."

Every pair of eyes made their way down the street and rested on the intimidating man who gave the command in a deceptively even tone. As the grip on her arm lessened, and the man in front of her spun around, Elizabeth finally saw who had captured everyone's attention. Oh Lord! It was him. The man from the orchard...Jason Quartermaine.

His name escaped more than one person's lips. But Elizabeth was unable to pay any mind to the others as her whole attention was captured by the completely still man a few feet away. While she had believed his eyes had been frightening the previous evening...they were now as cold and lifeless as ice.

"Why can't ya mind your own damn business, mister?! This girl owes me for ruinin' my hat! Do ya know I had to go all the way to Topeka to get it made?"

For the first time, Elizabeth noticed the large trampled tan cowboy hat laying on the ground next to a feeding trough.

"Can we help it, Sorel, if your head is so damn big that you had to go to Topeka to get a large enough hat for it?! And as I see it, you're the one who wasn't watching where they were goin'," hollered Carly as she made her way to stand beside Jason. "Let the little gal go before you cause any more fuss, ya here me?!"

The furious Sorel was about to take issue with Carly, when he caught sight of Jason's hand resting on his gun in its holster. He turned back to Elizabeth and leaned into her whispering, "You're not worth gettin' killed for girl...but mark my words, you'll pay for my hat one way or 'nother." With that threat, he shoved Elizabeth to the ground and made his way over to his skittish horse.

"Lizzie!" As Sarah, Amy and Lucy rushed over to help Elizabeth to her feet, everyone else's attention was focused on the man with the deadly eyes as he grabbed Sorel by the shoulders just before he could mount his horse, and spun him around. "If you ever touch a woman like that again, you're a dead man, Sorel." And he punctuated his words with a blow to the man's already ugly face, knocking him easily to the ground.

Exclamations ran through the growing crowd. Some of the women were horrified by the violence, but the majority of folks were cheering Jason's actions. Elizabeth herself was in a state of shock. Lord...look at all the trouble she had caused...

"What the devil is goin' on here?" demanded a newcomer to the scene. As his eyes went from the fallen Sorel and then up to Jason, he quickly drew out his gun and asked harshly, "What the hell are you doing back here, Quartermaine? I thought I warned you to stay the hell away from Heaven!"

Keeping his eyes on the gun aimed at his heart, Jason replied emotionlessly, "I have business in these parts, Sheriff. And the name is Morgan...not Quartermaine."

The town sheriff's face turned bright red with rage. "You think you can change your name and that changes what happened? You'll always be a damn Quartermaine. Using people and then discarding them like the rest of them. I told you to stay away from here...do you think because a few years have gone by things have changed? Do you know what happened to Robin, you bastard? Do you?!" Mac pushed his gun into Jason's chest. "God, I should kill you..."

As her sister held her hand tightly, Elizabeth's finally remembered what had started to come to her the other night...the rumours about Jason Quartermaine. Over two years ago...he had been about to marry the sheriff's beautiful niece, Robin Scorpio. She vaguely recalled how it had set all the tongues a wagging in Heaven, because the Quartermaines had been livid about the whole thing...and then something had happened. Elizabeth now wished she had been more interested in local news at the time instead of being so engrossed in her sketching.

As Mac continued to keep the gun aimed at Jason's heart, Carly stepped forward and began, "Hold your horses sheriff, ya don't know-"

But at that moment, a small blond woman came running down the street and stopped by the sheriff's side. She placed her hand gently on Mac's arm. "No, Mac stop! What are you doing?!"

With his eyes staring into Jason's unflinching ones, Mac replied softly, "What I should have done when he broke Robin's heart, Felicia..."

"No. Let him go. You can't do this." Slowly the schoolmistress moved her hand to the gun, and moved it away from Jason. "Please Mac, let him go."

When the sheriff finally lowered his gun and took a step back, the whole captivated crowd let out a collective sigh of relief. But Mac wasn't going to give up that easily. He turned to one of his deputies who had come on the scene and ordered, "Take Quar-Morgan here to the jail."

Carly demanded, "What for?"

Pointing to the slumped man on the ground. "For assaulting this man."

"What?! This hardcase assaulted that girl there, and Jase here was helpin' her out." Turning to glare at all the quiet onlookers, Carly shouted, "Well?! Ain't you fine folks goin' to say anythin'?! Or are y'all goin' to let him get dragged to jail?"

Elizabeth, who had been watching the astonishing proceedings, also looked around at the crowd. Was the sheriff actually going to take that man to jail? By the look in his hard eyes and the determined tilt of his chin, she thought so. That woman...Mrs. Corinthos...was right...that man had helped her when everyone else simply stood by. Lord...as the silence stretched out around her, she realised she was going to have to speak out. "It's...ah...true, Sheriff," she began timidly, "that man was kind enough to come to my aid when that...man on the ground grabbed me." Elizabeth felt her face flush, not used to having so many pairs of eyes on her.

At the sound of the soft voice, Mac turned towards the tiny young woman in yellow. He vaguely recalled having seen her around before but couldn't quite put a name to her pretty face. "What did you say miss?"

Elizabeth raised her big eyes to meet the sheriff's and said in a firmer voice, "He rescued me. I accidentally caused that other man's horse to unseat him, and he became rather upset with me. If that man," she pointed to Jason, "had not shown up, I don't know what would have happened." As she finished, her eyes momentarily caught her rescuer's. For a moment she thought there was a flicker of something in those blue eyes, but in the next instant, they were as cold as before. Quickly lowering her eyes, she wondered at her daring. That was the most she had ever spoken in public!

Mac let out a frustrated sigh and then asked the crowd, "Is this what happened?" As he saw the heads nodding their assent, he grudgingly muttered, "Alright, Morgan you can go. But I'm warning you at the first sign of trouble, I'll see you hanged!" As he walked angrily back towards the jail, he ordered to his deputy, "Ray bring that fallen man to the jail and get Doc to have a look at him. And the rest of you folks get back to your business."

As the good people of Heaven felt that all the excitement was now over, most of them heeded the sheriff's orders. Unfortunately, Amy and Lucy did not. "Oh my! Are you quite alright Lizzie?" Miss Vining began before continuing, "I can only imagine what the ladies at the sewing circle will say about all of this, Lucy. Jason Quartermaine...I never would have believed he would come back here."

Lucy nodded, "Neither would I. I cannot believe I had not seen any of these strange events coming...I simply do not understand it."

Elizabeth was not paying any attention to the women, or to Sarah's lamentations for hats which had fallen out of their boxes. Her full concentration was on Carly Corinthos and the man she had now met under two very shocking set of circumstances. They were both making their way back toward the saloon, and Elizabeth realised she had not even thanked the man for what he had done. Perhaps she should run after him...what?! She couldn't believe she had thought such a thing. Run after him into a saloon? Lord...what was she thinking? Perhaps she would send a note of thanks by later...yes...that would be much safer.

At that moment, Audrey Hardy had joined her granddaughters and the two gossipmongers who were only too eager to share the tale of poor Lizzie's run in with a bad character and Jason Quartermaine. As was to be expected, Audrey was as shocked and horrified as her golden granddaughter, and immediately ordered both girls into the buggy. Soon they were headed home and the two other ladies were headed to share, with those who had not already heard, the news of Jason Quartermaine's infamous return to Heaven, Kansas.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"I can't believe that gal actually spoke up! For a moment, I thought the stupid sheriff was goin' to put you in jail. Sonny would have had a fit then! And I swear if Scorpio had taken you away, I would've..."

When Carly was this worked up, Jason merely let her vent. As he entered through the swinging doors, he could feel eyes staring into his back, but did not bother turning around. It was not surprising someone would be staring after him considering the whole damn town was probably now talking about him. He swore under his breath. So much for keeping a low profile while in town.

Why the hell couldn't he have just let someone else deal with Sorel? He wouldn't have been able to really harm that girl with so many folks about. That girl...when he recognised her from the evening before he had been a little surprised. Did that girl have a penchant for trouble? He had been in town less than twenty four hours and he had already come across her eavesdropping and trespassing and then knocking Sorel off his horse into that trough. If one went by appearances, you wouldn't guess that such a small thing could find herself in so much trouble...why she looked like she was frightened of her own shadow.

Jason shook his head, and made his way to sit down at one of the many vacant tables in the large room with Carly following right behind him. He looked around the darkly lit room and wasn't too surprised to see it relatively empty. It was still too early for the large crowds that filled nightly. He looked over to the bar and nodded at Johnny, who was cleaning some of glasses and then acknowledged Francis at the piano near the stage.

"...and where were you two, when Jase was out there rescuin' that girl?" Carly demanded of the two men.

"Oh, we were watchin' from the window, but Jase looked like he was handlin' it," said the large man at the piano. As he adjusted some sheet music, Francis grinned, "'Sides it was only Sorel...Jase could've decked 'im with one hand tied behind his back."

Johnny laughed, "Yep, Jase sure knocked 'im into a cocked hat! And a man never deserved it more than Sorel. Did ya wanna toast your heroics over a snort of oh-be-joyful, Jase?"

Jason shook his head, and even in his lousy mood he couldn't help but smile at the two men. He recalled when he and Sonny had met the men two years ago in San Francisco. The two cousins had been there working the card tables of every saloon in town, until one night they shamboozzled the wrong man. Douglas Hilton was a flush and powerful man in those parts, and when he found out the two men were cheating him at cards, he had sent his men to teach the boys a lesson. Fortunately for them, Jason and Sonny had been in the area tracking down a man for a powerful Texan ranch baron. One of his ranch hands had killed the Texan's daughter and he had hired the best hired guns at the time, Morgan and Corinthos. Francis and Johnny had helped them find the bastard, and Sonny and Jason compensated Hilton for his losses. Francis and Johnny had become a part of Jason and Sonny's life ever since.

Carly glared at the two men and asked scathingly, "Would ya two have just looked on as that damn sheriff took Jase off to jail?"

Francis played a few bars of notes, and smiled, ""Course not Carly, but we knew you would've never let 'im be sent to the calaboose."

"What's this 'bout someone bein' sent off to jail?"

Carly let out a scream of delight, and ran into the awaiting arms of the darkly handsome man standing just inside the double doors. "Sonny! I thought you'd never get back!"

Laughing, Michael "Sonny" Corinthos gave his wife a passionate kiss, and swung her around. "I always rush comin' home to you darlin'." But as he placed her back on her feet, his warm brown eyes immediately fell upon his lifelong friend and asked in surprise, "Jase?"

Jason stood up and walked over to the man who had taught him everything about being a man. Holding out his hand, he said, "Sonny."

Sonny looked down at Jason's hand, chuckled and grabbed it to pull him into a warm embrace of friendship. "Jase it's been too damn long! When the hell did you get here?" Sonny was completely taken off guard. When they had parted ways a year ago, with Jason heading to Texas, and Sonny heading back to Heaven with Carly to take over his father's saloon after Deke Corinthos's suspicious death, Sonny had known it meant they wouldn't be seeing Jason for years. While Heaven had never been a good place for Sonny, the son of the town whore and drunk, he felt it had been time to face the demons of the past. But for Jason, the demons of the past were still very much alive in the form of the Quartermaines, and he wanted nothing to do with them or their town.

Jason gave his friend a small smile. "Just yesterday."

Sonny took a step back and searched his friend's icy blue eyes. He could see something was wrong. "What are you doin' here Jase? I never thought I'd see you in Heaven again." He paused a moment before continuing, "Damn. You didn't come because of this Moreno business, did you? Because I told you in the letter it was nothin'."

Jason shook his head. "No. I know you could've looked after a goon like that on your own."

Carly who was now once again holding her husband's arm, said firmly, "Jase doesn't want to talk 'bout it yet honey. Why don't we let him get settled in 'ere for awhile 'fore pressin' him for details?"

Sonny chuckled as he turned surprised eyes at his wife, "Alright, what have you done with my wife?!" The Carly he knew would have been pestering details from a dead person if she had thought they were hiding something from her.

Carly's notorious temper flared, "Sonny! I can see Jase doesn't want to talk 'bout it yet! 'Course I wouldn't badger him! If he don't want to talk 'bout it, then no one is goin' to make him or badger him 'bout it unless they want to deal with me!"

Nodding, Sonny flashed his dimples in apology. "I know." And he did. Carly would protect Jason with all she had. He had helped her out of a jam when he took her out of that whorehouse in Texas, and he had introduced them to each other. For that and for so many other things, both Sonny and Carly owed Jason.

Jason decided he had better calm Carly down. "It's alright Carly. You deserve to know why I came back here." He looked around at the four people in the room. "You all do."

Sonny and Carly exchanged concerned glances. "Why don't we all have a seat and drinks while you tell us then?" Sonny suggested as he took off his black hat and sat down at a table. Jason agreed and soon he, Carly and Francis were also seated at the table.

From behind the bar, Johnny asked, "So what will it be? Our boss whiskey?"

Everyone nodded, except Jason. "None for me, Johnny. I have to be stone sober when I visit my daughter this evening"

While Carly exclaimed, "Daughter!?" Sonny raised an eyebrow in surprise, and the other men's mouths hung open in shock.

Jason kept his eyes on Sonny's as he nodded. "Yes. Mine and Robin's. Last month I received a letter from my sister." He paused as he looked over Sonny's shoulder to a spot on the wall. "It seems that before Robin died in New York, she gave birth to a daughter. The Quartermaine's somehow found out about her and tried to pass her off as AJ and Eve's daughter."

Sonny asked gently, "Jase, how do you know she's yours?"

Jason almost flinched, but years of control had taught him to hide his emotions. He knew the question had to be asked. "She's mine. From what Emily found out in New York, Robin gave birth only six months after she left Heaven. That means the child must have been conceived before Cassadine even arrived in the area."

As the four others in the room tried to absorb this astonishing news, Jason felt the old anger creep back into him at the thought of Nikolas Cassadine. The man who had married the woman he had loved.

Almost bursting with questions, Carly finally was unable to restrain herself further and asked, "But I don't understand Jase. What do ya mean that your family tried to pass her off as your brother's? Do ya mean she's living with them now?"

Jason nodded.

Carly's face grew red with fury. "Why those low down no good..."

"Carly, not now," Sonny said softly as he took her hand. Then, knowing his friend as well as he did, Sonny asked, "So how are you goin' to get her out of there, Jase?"

"I don't know yet," Jason replied in frustration, "I went by this morning and they tried to sneak her away from the back. I'm going back tonight to see her."

Francis said in a determined tone, "We will come with ya, and by hook or crook we'll get 'er outta there!" Johnny nodded in agreement as he growled, "Don't care a continental them folks are flush, it ain't right takin' a man's child like that!"

Jason shook his head, "No. I can't take her by force...it would only frighten her. But I think I can convince Lila to help me. If there is anyone who has more say in that household than Edward, it's her..." Jason trailed off as he remembered the conversation he had with his grandmother.

Sonny asked, "What is it Jason? As much as I hate the Quartermaines...I recall meetin' your grandmother when we were young lads. She's a fine lady, and I know she'd want to do the right thin'. Why do you think you need to convince her to help you?"

Taking off his black hat, and running a hand through his hair, Jason replied tightly, "Because she has some foolish notion that I should marry so Rebecca will have a mother."

Francis spit out the whiskey he had been about to swallow. "Marry?! Lord preserve me from womenfolk tellin' us happy fellows to shackle ourselves for life!"

Carly narrowed her eyes as she leaned threateningly toward him, "What was that, Francis?!"

"Uh...nothin' Carly." Francis mumbled as he turned frightened eyes from Jason to Sonny.

Sonny chuckled as he patted Carly's hand. "Honey, he ain't been married before and don't know what connubial bliss is."

With a final glare at Francis, she turned concerned eyes to Jason and repeated, "Rebecca? Is that her name, Jase?"

Jason's eyes glowed with some deep emotion as he replied softly, "Yes."

Carly's reputed hard heart softened. Lord...he already loved his daughter. And she knew that when this man before her loved, he loved deeply. That meant he could be hurt deeply. "So your grandmother wants ya to marry? Who?"

Jason shrugged. "No one in particular. She simply thinks Rebecca needs a mother."

Carly nodded. "I think...she's right, Jase. All young girls should have a mother..."

Seeing the haunted look in his wife's eyes, Sonny gave her hand a squeeze of comfort. Carly had never known her mother and it had been a void that she had never been able to fill, even now when she knew she was loved.

Jason turned startled eyes to Carly and asked, "What are you saying, Carly?"

Sonny answered for her, "She's saying you should find yourself a wife, Jase."