Chapter 5

As Jason rode up to the Quartermaine sprawling ranch house, he reminded himself he had to remain calm. He didn't want to frighten Rebecca when he saw her, and tonight he would be seeing her, no matter what the Quartermaines had planned.

Dismounting, he noticed that besides the usual hands working on the grounds, there were a number of men who were obviously not Quartermaine men. They were a mangy, coarse looking bunch. As he walked up the stairs he felt their eyes following him with interest, but he paid them no heed.

Just as he stepped onto the porch, a large black haired man in fancy black suit came charging out of the double doors. His face was a black cloud of rage, and right behind him was an equally enraged Edward.

"I'm tellin' you, Quartermaine. You had better change your mind about that land. I need the water from that river for my cattle, and you're not goin' to stop me."

Edward Quartermaine large bushy eyebrows furrowed in anger as he pointed his finger at the dark man. "Get the hell off my land, Moreno. Or I'll have my men throw off the whole lot of you riffraff! You may dress in fancy duds now, but your nothing but trash!"

"I'm leavin', but I'll be back Quartermaine, and you'd better change your mind by then. Or I'll have ways of makin' you change it." Morena continued his march down the porch and paused as he spotted Jason. He looked over Jason for a moment and his face registered slight surprise as Jason held his gaze without backing down. Then he barked out, "You new to this area, mister?"

Continuing to stare coldly into the man's eyes, Jason remained silent.

The man's lifeless grey eyes narrowed. "You look mighty like the description of the idiot foolish enough to attack one of my men. You that fellow Morgan staying with Corinthos?"

When Jason still didn't answer, Moreno went for his gun, but Jason was quicker at the draw, and had his gun aimed at the man's throat before Moreno's was even out of its holster. "I don't want any trouble, Moreno."

"Let him go!"

Jason could see out of the corner of his eye, Moreno's men had all drawn there guns.

Moreno laughed. "You're outnumbered, Morgan. If you shoot me, you're dead."

Without the slightest movement of the gun in his hand, Jason said unaffectedly, "But you'd still be dead first, Moreno."

Moreno's eyes widened. After a moment of staring into the man's unwavering cold blue eyes, Moreno shouted at his men, "Put away the guns. We'll leave in peace, Morgan. This time."

Slowly Jason stepped back, keeping the gun trained on Moreno as he made his way down the porch to his horse.

"Let's get out of here," he bellowed to his men as he sat in his saddle. But before he passed through the gate, he threatened, "This won't be the last you see of me, Morgan."

Edward swore as he watched Moreno and his men ride out. Then looking at Jason who had just returned his gun to its holster, he shouted, "I thought I told you to stay away from here, you ingrate." He moved his shorter frame between Jason and the door.

Jason was about to physically move the older man out of his way, when Lila called out from behind Edward, "Jason's here to see his daughter, Edward. Let him by."

"I told you Lila, he's not going near Rebecca!"

Placing a gentling hand on Edward's tense shoulders, Lila said firmly, "You have no say in the matter, Edward. He's her father." Then turning to Jason, Lila said, "She's upstairs in her room, Jason."

As Edward reluctantly moved away from the door, Jason followed his grandmother through the front foyer and down the hall to the foot of the stairs. As AJ and Eve came out of the salon, Jason stiffened ready for another confrontation. He wasn't disappointed.

"I was stupid enough to think you would have the decency not to show up," AJ said tersely as he stepped into Jason's path. "If you care about that girl at all, you would leave now."

Jason shook his head. "How many times am I going to have to tell you to get out of my way, AJ? You're lucky I don't kill you for what you've done."

At that moment Monica and Alan Quartermaine came down the stairs, and Edward had made his way in from outside. Jason looked around at what he used to think of as family. He continued, "But all I want now is my daughter. I don't give a damn about the rest of you."

Eve stepped forward. "Please...Jason. I know we don't know each other, but I love that little girl. I know it was wrong what we did, trying to pass her off as ours, but I love her as if she were my own. I will make sure she's well cared for and happy. I swear it."

Jason turned his icy blue eyes toward the dark haired beauty. "No. We don't know each other, Eve. But I know you're married to this family, and I know that no child of mine will be raised here."

Monica Quartermaine finally said something to her son, the son who had become a complete stranger. "Jason. You can't just take Rebecca from everything she's known. Let her stay here, and I promise you may visit her anytime you like."

"Jason is here now to visit his daughter and that is what he will do. Come this way Jason," Lila ordered in her most firm voice, "I want the rest of you to stay down here."

With that Lila led Jason up the stairs, and to the nursery. She stepped inside the door, and instructed the nanny, "Alice, you may leave now. I'll call you when we're done."

As the middle aged woman left the room, Jason let his eyes fall on the little two year old girl sitting on the fur rug, playing with a beautiful curly brown haired doll with big blue eyes.

Lila felt the tears sting her eyes, as she noticed the softening of her grandson's face. He almost looked like the boy she had known...the boy he had been before all the betrayals. She walked over to the daughter of the man he had become and lifted the girl into her arms, "Rebecca? I want you to meet someone." Turning the girl's rosy face toward Jason, she said, "This is your father, Rebecca. His name is Jason."

Swallowing the large lump that had formed in his throat, Jason said softly, "Hello, Rebecca." He raised his hand to stroke her shiny dark hair, but the largeness of his hand next to her small face, made him feel awkward.

"Hello." The girl laughed, reaching out her chubby little hands to his raised hand. Lila smiled, "I think she wants you to hold her, Jason. She's a very affectionate little girl. Aren't you Rebecca?" She placed the little girl into Jason's arms.

He carefully accepted his daughter's light weight, and turned her around in his arms. As he stared down into her smiling round face, Jason felt his heart explode with emotion. This innocent little person was depending on him to keep her this happy...and safe. "But...ton," Rebecca said as she pointed to the round button on Jason's white shirt. She tugged at it. "Round but...ton."

Jason nodded seriously. "Yes. It's a button." He hadn't realised she would be able to speak yet. God...how much of her life had he already missed?

Then the little girl, becoming frustrated with the fact the button did not seem to want to move, twisted her body and pointed toward the rug, "Want my doll, Nana."

Lila laughed as she reached down for the doll and placed it in Rebecca's hand. "She takes that doll everywhere." Jason merely nodded as he continued to watch his daughter. Lila said as she made her way to the door, "I'll leave you two to get acquainted."

"Thank you, Lila," Jason replied absently as he sat down on a chair with Rebecca. As she struggled to get down to the floor to play, Jason reluctantly placed her down gently and watched as she walked over to the doll. He was having a difficult time finding words to say to her. He wasn't used to speaking to children, and he didn't want to frighten her.

In the silence, Rebecca began mumbling to her doll as she took a small brush and worked it through the dark curls of real hair.

Kneeling on the ground, Jason pointed to the doll and asked, "What's your doll's name, Rebecca?"

Rebecca looked up with her blue eyes, the same eyes as her father's and said, "Em-ily."

Jason laughed. "Like your aunt Emily? Did she give you the doll?"

The little girl shook her head, but didn't say anything as she continued to play with the doll's hair. After a few moments of silence, Rebecca turned toward Jason and pushed the doll in his direction, "Bru-ush!"

Jason's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You want me to brush her hair?" At her nod, Jason took the tiny brush in his large hands and untangled it from the doll's chestnut curls. He then worked it through the rest of the fine hair. He didn't even consider the peculiar picture he made; Jason Morgan, one of the most feared hired guns in the West, playing with a doll. It only mattered to him that Rebecca wanted him to do it. Father and daughter spent the next half hour playing with the doll and in a mostly one-sided conversation, with Jason doing most of the talking and Rebecca blurting out a few words here and there.

Unfortunately the time flew by much too quickly and soon Lila and Alice came into the room to find Rebecca sitting on Jason's lap on the floor. The little girl seemed to be saying something and Jason had his head tilted listening carefully. Lila smiled at the sight, but then said gently, "Jason...I'm sorry, but it's Rebecca's bed time now. Alice is here to help her."

Slowly, Jason placed a soft kiss on the top of Rebecca's head. "Bye Rebecca. I'll visit you soon. I promise."

As Alice picked Rebecca up, the little girl smiled. "Bye...bye."

Taking a deep breath, Jason followed Lila out the door, and stood for a moment in silence, closing his eyes.

"I'm sorry Jason." Lila could see how difficult it was for him to leave his daughter. "You can visit her anytime."

Jason opened his eyelids, revealing eyes turbulent with emotion. "Lila, I don't want to confuse her with these visits. I need to get her out of here."

Lila placed a hand on his arm. "I promise to help you get your daughter, Jason. But you need to take it slowly. It would be too hard for her to uproot her so quickly. Besides...you need to figure out how you will care for her. I want you to think about what I said the other day."

"I have, Lila. And my answer is still the same. I can't marry. But I will find a way to see she's well cared for. But you're right about one thing. She needs time to get used to me before I take her with me." He paused, then taking the elderly woman's wrinkled hand, "Thank you, Lila. I will never forget your help."

Lila placed her arms around his large frame, and whispered softly, "You deserve to be with your daughter, Jason, and she needs to be with you. I won't let anyone, even Edward...take that away from you too. They've taken enough already."

After a moment of silence, the two walked down the stairs in companionable silence, to only then hear shouting coming from the salon.

"Listen to me Father. Leave AJ the hell alone! It's not his fault Moreno is after us now."

"Then whose fault is it?! If he could run the ranch half as well as Jason used to, we wouldn't find ourselves in this mess. But with our stock half as productive as usual, we're ripe for Moreno's picking. If it weren't for my connections, this family would find itself without a farthing."

"Grandfather, I'm sick and tired of you blaming me for all the problems in this damn family! Haven't I done everything you've asked me too?! But while Jason's the one who turned his back on this family, I still can't live up to him! I'm sick of being your lackey, old man!"

As Jason and Lila reached the bottom of the stairs, AJ came charging through the hall. The slamming of the door rang through the silence in the hall.

"Oh dear..." Lila murmured, "You had best go Jason before Edward and Alan come out here. All this quarrelling is so tiring."

Jason nodded and kissed her cheek in goodbye. While he couldn't care less if he upset his grandfather and father, he did care about the toll all their fighting took on Lila. He made his way down the hall, but before he could leave, Edward, who had come out into the hall, placed a hand on his arm.

"Wait Jason."

Jason tried to shrug his hand off. "Let go of me, old man."

But the elderly man's grip remained firmly in place. "I have a proposition for you, Jason. You want your daughter don't you?"

Spinning around, Jason stared down at his grandfather. "Listen to me, Edward. I'm going to get Rebecca out of here, no matter what you say or do."

"But, I can make it easy or I can make it hard for you, Jason." Edward then paused a moment. "Just come back to run the land, and you can have Rebecca."

"Father!" Alan shouted from behind Edward. "How could you even suggest such a thing? What about AJ?!"

Edward laughed hard, "You mean your drunk of a son? No, he's already running the place into the ground and you're not helping much either." He turned back to Jason, "You're the only one who has enough fortitude to take on Moreno, Jason. The man actually seemed afraid of you earlier."

Jason shook his head. "You're a fool old man, if you think I'm going to come back to this family. Do you think I can easily forget everything that's happened? You ran off the woman I was going to marry. You steal my child and now you want to barter her for my running this place?"

"You know damn well, Robin wasn't the woman for you! At the first sign of trouble, didn't she run off with that Cassadine boy? She didn't even stay to fight for you, Jason. And that Cassadine boy was the one who contacted me about the child!"

Jason decided he had wasted enough of his night with the Quartermaines. Ignoring the rest of Edward's speech, he turned around and walked out the doors.

As he got into the saddle and turned his horse toward the gate, the last thing he heard was Edward shouting from the porch. "Just think about this, Jason. Moreno is going after everyone in the area, and won't stop 'til he has this place as well. You know how much your grandmother loves this land...do you really want us to lose it to that bastard?!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

With Edward's words still ringing in his ears, Jason arrived back to the saloon. It was already dark and the place was lively with sounds, and the air was thick with cigar smoke. Rowdy cowboys who had already downed a few were being served drinks and entertained by Carly's girls. Some were playing high stake games of card.

He saw Francis was at the piano accompanying one dark haired beauty singing a ballad. As she finished, her oval eyes momentarily caught Jason's, but he easily dismissed her, moving his eyes to find Johnny. As he made his way to Johnny, the beginning of a song in Francis's booming baritone rang out...

iDan McCarthy lives in Cherry street,
McCarthy's boarding house;
He keeps a boarding house so neat,
McCarthy's boarding house;
Five dollars a week to him we pay,
McCarthy's boarding house.../i

Behind the bar, Johnny and his boys were busy trying to pour the whiskey fast enough to meet the high demand. Catching Jason's eye, Johnny grimaced and over the sound of the men singing along with Francis, he shouted, "Looks like you're needing a snort of oh-be-joyful, Jase. Things go badly?"

Jason shrugged. "As well as expected." Then looking around, he asked, "Where are Carly and Sonny?" He wanted to warn Sonny about his run in with Moreno.

"Where do ya suppose, Jase?" Johnny grinned while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. But then he continued, "Almost forgot. A youngin' came by, earlier. Left this for ya." As he pushed a white envelope across the wooden top, he muttered, "Listen to Francis belt it out! Lord, that fellow can't carry a tune."

iThere's the Clearys, and Learys,
And McLions, and Flynns,
Denny the Regans, and the Fagins,
McCarthy's boarding house./i

Jason took the envelope and read, written in a feminine hand, Mr. Jason Morgan. Who the hell would be writing to him? Opening the envelope, he took out the plain sheet of paper and unfolded it.
~ * ~ * ~
Dear Sir,

I apologise for my rudeness in not thanking you earlier for your actions on my behalf this afternoon. Please know that your kindness was greatly appreciated. I am forever in your debt.

Elizabeth Webber
~ * ~ * ~
So that was the troublesome girl's name. Elizabeth Webber.

"Been here only two days and receivin' love letters from gals already, Jase?"

Shaking his head, Jason refolded the note and placed it in his jacket. "No. Just that girl from that scene earlier today thanking me."

Johnny chuckled loudly. "Oh the gal in yellow that caused Sorel to land on his arse in that trough. Lord...suppose we've all been hankerin' to soak that blowhard a time or two. Well, not only does the gal do us all that good deed, but she sure a well-mannered little thin', sendin' you thanks and all..."

Nodding absentmindedly, Jason picked up his whiskey, and said, "I'm going up for the night. See you in the mornin' Johnny."

Groaning, Johnny said, "Lord Jase, you're becomin' a stodgy old man. Why not stay 'while and let one of the gals entertain ya?" Johnny let his hazel eyes wander around the room and noticed a number of the fancy women making eyes at Jason. "Looks like they're mighty interested."

Jason ignored Johnny's good humoured badgering and made his way through the crowd of folks, taking note of Sonny's men all over the place making sure that none of the male patrons were forcing their unwanted attentions on the girls.

iMcCarthy bought a new piano,
For McCarthy's boarding house,
For his elegant daughter, big Johanna,
In McCarthy's boarding house.
And she's the girl, knows how to play,
In McCarthy's boarding house,
She'd drive your appetite away,
In McCarthy's boarding house.

Johanna, alanna,
Loves Nailor, the Tailor,
And faith they'll be married,
In McCarthy's boarding house!/i

As the loud sound of cheers for Francis broke out behind him, Jason walked up the stairs past a number of drunken men and entered the room Carly had aired out for him. After closing the door behind him, he took a quick glance around. While Carly had wanted to give him a larger room, it was a cramped and stark one. But Jason didn't care where he stayed. At least for now.

When he got his daughter...then he would have to find somewhere else to live, at least temporarily until he figured out what he wanted to do. He wondered what had happened to the house and land he had handed over to Deke when he had left Heaven. Probably sold by now to some farmer. He'd have to ask Sonny about it, but he'd never go back there anyway...too many memories.

Trying to think of something else, he took off his black jacket, and let his mind wander back to his conversations with Sonny and his grandmother. While marriage was out of the question, Jason had to admit he had to find someone to help him care for Rebecca. Perhaps that woman...Alice. Damn! He should have thought of all of this before...but all he had wanted to do was just get her away from the Quartermaines. His recent confrontations with them had not changed that urge in the slightest.

Jason was still going over Edward's ludicrous proposal when he heard a knock at his door. Automatically his hand went to the cold handle of his gun. As he made his way quietly to the door, he barked out, "Who is it?" There was no answer. Slowly he opened the door, and looked down in annoyance at the woman scantily clad in a scarlet red gown. He recognised her as the singer from downstairs. Keeping his voice down, he asked, "What do you want?"

Gia Campbell's dark eyes widened slightly at his abrupt greeting but then curving her red lips into a seductive smile, she said softly, "That's not very friendly cowboy..." Her eyes wandered up and down the man's well built frame, finally resting on his hard eyes as they glared at her. A slight shiver ran through her body. When she had seen this prime specimen of manhood come into the saloon last night and then later in conversation with Carly, she knew she wanted him in her bed. Everything about him told her he would be a fabulous lover ...his well built tall form...the intensity in his amazing blue eyes...those wonderfully strong looking large hands...even that scar on his hard face...the danger he exuded excited her.

"You're not a friend. What do you want?" Jason wasn't even in the mood for pleasantries, and by the look in the woman's eyes, she wanted far more than pleasantries. While he hadn't been a monk since Robin, he was selective in his choice of bed partners. This one looked like trouble and the last thing he needed right now was women troubles.

Laughing a deep, throaty laugh, Gia raised one hand and placed it on his shirt covered chest. "No, honey...the question is what do you want?" She took a slight step forward inhaling the spicy male scent of him mixed in with aroma of leather and whiskey.

Removing her hand from him, Jason said passionlessly, "Sorry, not interested."

Gia's eyebrows rose in surprise. She had never had a man say he wasn't interested! Taking a deep breath to calm her slight flare of temper, she shrugged her shoulders allowing the sleeve of her gown to fall off one smooth shoulder. "Well...Jase-that's you're name right?-the name's Gia...and I'm sure I can find some way to..." she paused dramatically while she moved her hand to where his white shirt was tucked into his black trousers. Placing a red tipped finger into the waist of the trousers, she continued, "...capture your interest."

Jason had had enough. As he stepped back from her wandering hand, he said firmly, "Look, I said I'm not interested. Find some other man who is, Lady." Then he closed the door none too gently in her face.

While she stood stock still in front of the door, Gia's eyes flashed with rage. Then as she turned around angrily with skirts swirling about her feet, she whispered, "You're goin' to regret that mister! No one rejects Gia Campbell."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Song Credit: McCarthy's Boarding House by Thomas E. Powers, 1879.