A/n: Ok. Well I'm not getting many reviews with this but I guess I'll still
continue because I really like where I'm going with this. Thanks for the
reviews I got. I appreciate them, a lot. So, I'm going to try Pov's but
only with Benjamin and Cole until the new characters really come into the
story. Please review at the end.
Chapter two ::Amelia and Matthew?::
|| Benjamin's POV ||
I started running towards the horses, hoping that Cole would follow me close behind and understand that we had to find our closest group of friends to keep Liberty unchanged. Even though I knew it could backfire, I needed to know who would support us. Over the long, hard, and grueling years, Liberty had become a much more stable and friendlier environment. Crime had slowed down and life was pretty much average until Pinkerton's son and Thaddeus Rain's grandson came into the picture. All they were trying to do was start more trouble.
Jumping onto the horse bare back, I turned my head at an angle to see my little brother struggling to get up onto the horse. Father never had the chance to teach Cole, resulting in him having a hard time catching onto things that were just a normal, everyday task for me. Sighing, I nudged my horse over towards Cole and I grabbed him from under the arms and hoisted him onto the horse. Cole was getting bigger, I could only thank the good lord that I was still strong enough to pick him up.
"Thanks," Cole mumbled sheepishly.
"No problem, little brother. Let's get going." He nodded his head and we quietly rode towards the town at a rapid pace, knowing that there was no more time we could waste. The future of this town was in our hands. . . and it felt so wrong. Children were in charge of what happened; then there were most people who mocked us for being James'. They were just jealous.
Approaching town, I noticed that a group of people were out, surrounding some type of gathering. Slowly, we circled the buildings until I got a glimpse of what was going on. Another man was being hanged. I cursed under my breath in disgust. Why were they starting hanging again? Getting off the horse, I saw a few of my buddies sitting on the steps to the oldest saloon in town.
"Adam, what's going on?" I whispered, darting my eyes around nervously so the others wouldn't hear what we were saying.
"They are hanging another man. They say he got in contact with Thaddeus's relatives and told them to move on and build that railroad through Liberty. As I've heard, the man's been said to have been supplying them with information for quite a few years. It's bad, really bad Ben." Adam shook his head and took out a rag to clean his gun that got dirtied from messing around earlier.
"Shit. Man, can you do me a favor?" I asked, praying that Adam would help me out even after how dim things were looking.
He shook his head. "I might. You tell me what you need and I'll tell you if I can help."
"I need to get a bunch of us together to stop Pinkerton and Rains. They are going to take over Liberty and I would ask my father to handle this but it seems his really sick again. What do you say? Can you get some of our buddies together so we can work on a plan back at my house?"
It suddenly grew quiet; Adam's eyes were wide open.
"Boy!" someone shouted. "Shut your mouth. Respect the dead, young man." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had nearly forgotten all about that. Now I had drawn more attention to myself than necessary. Then, out of nowhere, Cole stood behind me and defended me.
"Sir, it was an accident. Benjamin had some very important business he needed to take care of. May we please be excused from here?"
The old man looked down on us, harshly. For the first few minutes, I thought we were going to be hanged next for disturbing the rules of staying quiet after someone's death for a moment. But, then, he shook his hand and told us 'little boys' to go off and play and to be good kids. I probably would have retorted at that moment but I knew it was completely unnecessary.
Sitting near our horses away from the gathering, I noticed five other young lads come in our direction. A short, chubby one spoke up. "Adam says you need our help. At your assistance." The chubby boy bowed, losing his balance and landing flat on his face.
I nearly chuckled out loud. "Are you ok?"
He nodded. Good. We didn't need anymore attention brought to this little meeting we were having. "Thaddeus and Pinkerton are trying to build railroads through here again. They say that they won't stop to get it done and they are even willing to kill. I would ask our father to help out, but he got really sick earlier and it seems to me that we're on our own."
"So, what do you want us to do?" a tall one asked, probably a few years older than me.
"Good question. But, I'm not quite sure what our plan of attack is yet. Meet me back at my house in a few hours and we can straighten out all of the details and train some of your guys who really don't know how to handle a weapon. We have a lot to get done today." I cleared my throat and turned around to face Cole. "Hey, we got to go. Ma will get worried if we're not home soon.
Cole nodded his head weakly. "Sure Ben."
As we took off, I felt oddly relieved to know that we probably had a few men- well boys that were capable of stopping this. Sure, being children made it a lot harder to be seen as curious, but we had Jesse James and nothing could match up to that. Plus, the rest of the original 'James Younger Gang'. After five minutes, I noticed that the sun was starting to set and that we had to get back home very soon for supper or we'd be facing a whole months worth of chores that were disgusting, and just plain old revolting.
It was silent, just so incredibly silent.
"Ben. . ." Cole trailed off, slightly falling behind.
"Yes?"
"What are our chances of successfully being Thaddeus this time around?"
I let out the breath I was holding. "Slim to none, probably. But that doesn't mean we give up Cole. It is up to us to change those odds." He nodded his head in affirmation. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, I saw this really pretty girl looking at you in town," he answered shyly, "and she even blushed when I waved to her. Such a pretty girl, Ben."
"Stop sounding so sappy, Cole. We can't worry about girls now, you should know that," I answered sternly.
"Fine."
We were followed by silence again. I didn't like to cut Cole off and make him sound like I was such a brute but girls were the least of our concerns right now. We had so much work to get done tonight and over the next few days. I didn't even know if were capable of becoming as good as my fathers gang. We were absolutely nothing like them, and they were all in their twenties and early thirties. They were men taking on other men and we were boys taking on other men. Did anyone see the problem I was faced with? Suddenly, I groaned and continued to ride towards the sunset. Cole didn't even attempt to talk to me and it only destroyed me inside.
|| Cole's POV ||
Don't get me wrong, I look up to Ben and he was my role model and everything but he seemed so energy drained lately. Was he getting much sleep? I was his concerned little brother, wondering why he suddenly didn't care about girls at all. Ben always cared about what girls thought because he knew that his time to get married was running out, even though he wouldn't quite tell me the circumstances to that dilemma. As his younger brother, I wasn't about to give up because I knew this girl had been fancying him for a long time but Ben showed absolutely no interest.
Pretty soon, I found that I was falling behind considerably and Ben didn't even seem to notice. Why was he like this? One minute he seemed like he cared and the next moment he was a completely different person, which struck me as odd because that definitely wasn't his personality. It was as if something was eating him up. . . I just felt so worthless and useless.
BOOM!
I heard a loud noise in the distance to hear something go off. It was so loud and powerful that it shook the ground from beneath us, the horses neighed in fright and threw me off the horse before I could even clutch to the rains. After a few more booms, it sounded like it was slightly going away and I thought I was going to pass out until Ben ran towards me and sat me up.
"Are you okay?" he asked, frantically searching the surroundings for some sort of explanation to such a boom.
"I think," I groaned, grabbing my head. As I pulled my hand away, I saw blood coated on my hand. I must have cut my head open from the fall or on a rock. That was not how things were supposed to go! I mumbled a few words incoherently until Ben shook me violently and picked me up into his arms.
"Let me down! I'm not a baby!" I hollered, trying to squirm out of his grasp.
"Shh," he whispered. "There are men pretty close. I have a feeling this has something to do with that damn railroad," Ben cursed. Lately, he seemed to be using a lot of improper language; at least he wasn't using it around girls since that had been forbidden in Liberty for about five years now. Ben carried me behind a bush and sat me down. "Here's my handkerchief. Hold this to your head to stop the bleeding."
I nodded my head, knowing that Ben wanted me to stay silent. "Are we going to die?" I croaked, ten minutes later. "It's dark out and I'm sure Ma is awfully worried, Ben.
"Yes, I'm sure she is. . . but we can't worry about that right now if we want to get out of here alive. Just follow my footsteps and we can make it to Amelia's house for the night."
I coughed and stopped in my tracks. Did he say what I thought he did? But, why Amelia's house? That girl absolutely despised us because we were far more well known in the town than her family. Especially since she had only lived around here for about a year. Ben's whole idea was destined for doom. How did he expect Amelia to welcome us into her home with open arms? She was revolted by my looks, always have a cocky attitude like a girl. Amelia even dressed like a guy sometimes! What did Ben want with her?
"Are you insane?" I whispered angrily. "She could be mistaken for a guy and she hates us on top of that. How do you plan to make this work?"
Ben just cracked up and patted me on the back. "Amelia owes me a favor." And that was it. Those were the only five words out of his mouth on the thirty minute walk to her house, even through my protests and various questions. He'd just stop and turn around, shooting me angry and frustrated looks. I knew I was getting annoying by the glances he shot at me. The best I could do in this situation was just keep my big, fat closed and out of a conversation for once.
After all, the whole town thought I should win an award for most talkative person ever in Liberty. How lame! Soon after, my feet were beginning to drag and I could barely walk anymore. "Ben, I'm not used to walking so much. my head hearts. Bam! I collapsed to the ground, barely able to keep my eyes open.
|| Ben ||
Once I heard that thud, I ran towards my brother and did my best to keep him awake. I think the blood loss was actually starting to affect him worse than I had previously assumed. . . and. . . Amelia- well, her house was so close and I couldn't give up for the sake of Cole. He was my only brother and my father taught me to never leave the wounded behind, even if you are sure that you won't make it out alive. As I hoisted him over my shoulder, I could hear the galloping of horses in the slight distance. It had seemed that they were catching up a lot faster than I had thought.
"Let's go buddy," I whispered, hoping I could make it for three more minutes. Her house was in sight but I didn't want to start running in fear that my legs would give up and I'd pummel to the ground, killing us both. I was pretty sure that we were being followed when we left town, I had been trying to ignore it and not say anything so I wouldn't frighten Cole. Those men couldn't know what we knew.
Finally. I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached her door. Setting Cole softly down onto the porch, I knocked the door and waited patiently for someone to answer. I knew that it was awfully disrespectful of me to disturb people at such a late hour, but Cole needed medical attention and I just needed some rest and a way to get in contact with my parents. They had to be worried sick.
Soon, a man emerged with a shot gun in his hand. "Pinkerton, if that is you again, I swear I'll blow your head off. I told ya that I'm not selling this land!"
I worked up my courage to speak. "No sir. This is Ben James and I'm here with my brother Cole James. Please, sir its an emergency. Can you let us in?" I heard shuffling behind the door and then it swung open.
"Boy, what are ya doing all the way out here?"
"We were being followed. Then, a couple of huge booms went off, scaring our horses and it threw my brother off and he got hurt, unlike me. Can you try and help him and I'll tell you anything you want?" I begged, sounding so pathetic in the process.
The man coughed a few times. Then he closed the door and began talking quietly to another person as I stood there anxiously with my brother seriously hurt. I was about to interrupt his little chat when he finally opened up the door and let us enter.
"You give Amelia any trouble and your gone!"
"Yes sir."
He showed me up to an extra room and let me get situated. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
I nodded my head, "yes sir."
He chuckled. "Boy, you don't need those stupid formalities with me. I'm Amelia's older brother and I don't think I need you calling me 'sir.' I'm sure you look around my age."
"Yeah," I choked out, wondering how my little brother was doing. Everything had gone so wrong and I had gotten him into more trouble than I wanted him in. He was truly a good kid. Cole didn't deserve to be near death. Finally, I told Amelia's brother what was on my mind. "I've got to get to my parents. My pa is going to have a heart attack in his position. Do you have a horse I can borrow?"
He stood there, looking down on me with a strange smile that I couldn't quite tell what the expression was on his face. When I actually thought he was going to say anything, he just shook his head at me. "We'll get them in the morning. I'll send the word with one of my workers on his way home. But, where's the fire at?"
I shook my head. "My friends and I are forming are gang tonight but they are probably at my house right now worrying my parents even worse than before. Gosh, its not my fault that Pinkerton and his crazy men are trying to take us out before history repeats again and-
"James? Are you Jesse James son?" he asked in awe.
"Yes, but if we don't stop Pinkerton then our lives and homes are in jeopardy again!"
I took a deep breath and looked up at the man standing in front of me. He seemed to be awe- struck with the fact that I'm Jesse James son. Really, I didn't exactly understand quite what the big deal was. Nobody really talked about the past anymore and nobody cared.
"If you are up to stop Rains and Pinkerton then you can count me in!" He came and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm Matthew. Amelia's oldest and only guardian."
I shook his hand firmly. "What about your parents?" I asked, careful not to upset Matthew too much.
"Dead," he answered coldly. "That man they hung back then, well that was my father and my mother died giving birth to Amelia. Our grandparents live down in Texas so there isn't much of a chance of me sending my dear Amelia all the way down in the hands of strangers. It would take months just to get down there."
I sat there quietly; it was finally clear why Amelia wasn't much of a talker when we were in school. I guess I had always thought she was too stuck up and snobby . . . never truly judging on her personality. I was turning into a cruel and heartless being. And I felt so disappointed with myself.
"Hey. Just get some sleep and we can talk in the morning." I nodded my head and Matthew blew out the candles and closed the door.
|| Cole ||
I remembered falling off my horse and hitting my head on some sharp object, but the rest was a complete blur after that. Where was I? I shot up out of the bed I was in, scurrying to the door as I heard small talk going on in another room. My head was pounding in agony but I needed to get out of here. Then, all of the noise stopped as someone came knocking on the door. Quietly, I ran back to the bed and buried myself under the warm covers. They couldn't know that I was spying; I was just curious.
A few minutes later, the door slowly came creaking open. That was when I saw the most beautiful thing ever. Completely blowing my cover I whispered, "An angel." She seemed a bit startled at first but then she came to sit in the rocking chair.
"Hi Cole."
How did she know my name?
"How do you know my name?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Amelia's told me a lot. I just know a lot about you. Don't you remember me, Cole," she teased in the darkness.
Trying to figure out who she was, I closed my eyes and envisioned every girl I had ever come in contact with and that's when I knew who she was. She was that girl that I thought was staring at Ben! "But- but weren't you looking at Ben?"
"No silly. I was looking at you. Besides, Ben isn't my type."
"Your type?" I gulped nervously. I never knew girls had such preferences with men.
"Yeah, but I don't want to bug you now Cole. You need your rest. Oh, and I got in contact with your parents. They seemed awfully worried at first but then they called down considerably and let me leave the house. You have amazing friends and family," she cooed.
I rolled my eyes. Sure, this girl was pretty but she was starting to annoy me now. She was openly hitting on me! I despised girls that chased men. It was up to the men to chase girls, well that's what Uncle Cole had told me. Sighing, I mumbled to the girl that I was tired and I pretended to be asleep. As I thought she was about to go to sleep, she kissed me on the forehead. I did my best to keep a straight face.
As soon as she left the room, I rubbed her saliva off of my forehead with a cloth of some sort. Boy, today was not turning out like I had imagined it to. That girl had gotten way too close to me. And like Ben had said, there was no time for girls.
From all the thinking, I slowly fell asleep, only wondering what tomorrow was going to bring.
|| Amelia ||
I was disgusted when I opened the door and Molly Harris came barreling in and cooing about her boyfriend being hurt. At first, I thought she had meant Benjamin but then she started going off on Cole. But, the real odd part was that no one could have possibly known about him being hurt unless she was following him. I wouldn't doubt that she has something to do with the railroad.
Once I let her in, I showed her to the room but I got Matthew and I started spilling out how strange things were. That's when he told me what Benjamin's last name was. He was a James! How did I not know that? Sure, I knew he was an excellent student but the teacher never cared to ask our last names. Now, I was embarrassed to have him in my house. Was it good enough for famous Jesse James son?
I started to hyperventilate, but Matthew wrapped me in a hug and told me that Benjamin didn't care about money and the way people lived. He was a down to earth guy. But, how could I believe that? Most men I knew were revolting and just itching to touch me in ways I didn't want them to. After that one mishap, Matthew has never let me go anywhere and I mean anywhere alone. Too many drunks live in this town.
Matthew told me to go to bed but I didn't want to. I wanted to talk to Benjamin and let him tell me a story about his father, the real story. See, every different person had their own way to say how the Jesse James story went, but I had his own flesh and blood in my house. Maybe, just maybe, I would know the whole and complete story of the most famous outlaw 'Jesse James'.
Once Matthew went off to bed and Molly left my house, I walked down the short and narrow hallway to the room Benjamin was staying. Reaching for the doorknob, I opened it hesitantly only to be dragged into the room with a hand over my mouth. When I thought the person was about to kill me, they released me and ungracefully walked back towards his bed.
That's when I really heard him speak for the first time. "Ya know Amelia, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that."
When he said my name, it sent chills down my spine. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how you were doing and if you were awake before I went to bed."
"You don't have to take care of me, I'm not a guy who's going to make you wait on me with hand and foot. But, I'm glad you were concerned and nice enough to check up on me. Next time, please knock. I've been brought up that if you think your life is threatened, to take action. You are just very lucky I knew the scent of your perfume."
I laughed into the stiff air.
"But, now anyone can sense Molly Harris's perfume. That women is such a disgrace to the female species. I know she came to see my brother. Did you catch her saying anything?" he asked.
I almost went 'awe' at how cute he looked with that expression on his face. He really was good at everything without even barely trying. I just wanted to wrap him in my arms and never let go. Wait! I couldn't think like that.
"No," I answered quickly. "She just wanted to see Cole and talk to him. She was talking way too soft for me to eavesdrop-
"So you're an eavesdropper," he drawled, seductively.
"Well- to an extent, yes."
That would come in handy. "If I paid you, would you mind doing some small work for me that requires you in just using your ear?"
He had truly touched me with his words. He wanted my help! "You want my help?" I croaked.
"Any outlaw needs to know what he's faced with." He winked and got off the bed, slowly heading in my direction. I thought he was going to kiss me because I felt his breath on my neck, but he only lifted my necklace into the light. "This is beautiful. Where did you get this?"
"Matthew said it was my mom's. Then, he gave it to me." I knew I was skipping a lot of details but there truly wasn't much I could say to him. I didn't know him that well.
"I know," he answered quietly, letting go on the necklace.
"Oh. I got to go. I need some sleep." I turned around only for him to grab my wrist.
"Goodnight Amelia." He kissed me on the cheek and I flushed in embarrassment.
"Goodnight Ben." I walked out of the room, heading in the direction of my bed. Tonight was going to be a good night, a very good one indeed.
A/n: I normally don't like putting these in here, but my next update will probably be in mid November. See, I am moving into a new house in about two weeks, so I have a little time to write the next chapter but after that, I have to get a different internet provider (the one I have really sucks) and then I have to set up the computer. Hopefully, you won't have to wait too long. I promise to try and get it up quickly. Thanks.
Chapter two ::Amelia and Matthew?::
|| Benjamin's POV ||
I started running towards the horses, hoping that Cole would follow me close behind and understand that we had to find our closest group of friends to keep Liberty unchanged. Even though I knew it could backfire, I needed to know who would support us. Over the long, hard, and grueling years, Liberty had become a much more stable and friendlier environment. Crime had slowed down and life was pretty much average until Pinkerton's son and Thaddeus Rain's grandson came into the picture. All they were trying to do was start more trouble.
Jumping onto the horse bare back, I turned my head at an angle to see my little brother struggling to get up onto the horse. Father never had the chance to teach Cole, resulting in him having a hard time catching onto things that were just a normal, everyday task for me. Sighing, I nudged my horse over towards Cole and I grabbed him from under the arms and hoisted him onto the horse. Cole was getting bigger, I could only thank the good lord that I was still strong enough to pick him up.
"Thanks," Cole mumbled sheepishly.
"No problem, little brother. Let's get going." He nodded his head and we quietly rode towards the town at a rapid pace, knowing that there was no more time we could waste. The future of this town was in our hands. . . and it felt so wrong. Children were in charge of what happened; then there were most people who mocked us for being James'. They were just jealous.
Approaching town, I noticed that a group of people were out, surrounding some type of gathering. Slowly, we circled the buildings until I got a glimpse of what was going on. Another man was being hanged. I cursed under my breath in disgust. Why were they starting hanging again? Getting off the horse, I saw a few of my buddies sitting on the steps to the oldest saloon in town.
"Adam, what's going on?" I whispered, darting my eyes around nervously so the others wouldn't hear what we were saying.
"They are hanging another man. They say he got in contact with Thaddeus's relatives and told them to move on and build that railroad through Liberty. As I've heard, the man's been said to have been supplying them with information for quite a few years. It's bad, really bad Ben." Adam shook his head and took out a rag to clean his gun that got dirtied from messing around earlier.
"Shit. Man, can you do me a favor?" I asked, praying that Adam would help me out even after how dim things were looking.
He shook his head. "I might. You tell me what you need and I'll tell you if I can help."
"I need to get a bunch of us together to stop Pinkerton and Rains. They are going to take over Liberty and I would ask my father to handle this but it seems his really sick again. What do you say? Can you get some of our buddies together so we can work on a plan back at my house?"
It suddenly grew quiet; Adam's eyes were wide open.
"Boy!" someone shouted. "Shut your mouth. Respect the dead, young man." I swallowed the lump in my throat. I had nearly forgotten all about that. Now I had drawn more attention to myself than necessary. Then, out of nowhere, Cole stood behind me and defended me.
"Sir, it was an accident. Benjamin had some very important business he needed to take care of. May we please be excused from here?"
The old man looked down on us, harshly. For the first few minutes, I thought we were going to be hanged next for disturbing the rules of staying quiet after someone's death for a moment. But, then, he shook his hand and told us 'little boys' to go off and play and to be good kids. I probably would have retorted at that moment but I knew it was completely unnecessary.
Sitting near our horses away from the gathering, I noticed five other young lads come in our direction. A short, chubby one spoke up. "Adam says you need our help. At your assistance." The chubby boy bowed, losing his balance and landing flat on his face.
I nearly chuckled out loud. "Are you ok?"
He nodded. Good. We didn't need anymore attention brought to this little meeting we were having. "Thaddeus and Pinkerton are trying to build railroads through here again. They say that they won't stop to get it done and they are even willing to kill. I would ask our father to help out, but he got really sick earlier and it seems to me that we're on our own."
"So, what do you want us to do?" a tall one asked, probably a few years older than me.
"Good question. But, I'm not quite sure what our plan of attack is yet. Meet me back at my house in a few hours and we can straighten out all of the details and train some of your guys who really don't know how to handle a weapon. We have a lot to get done today." I cleared my throat and turned around to face Cole. "Hey, we got to go. Ma will get worried if we're not home soon.
Cole nodded his head weakly. "Sure Ben."
As we took off, I felt oddly relieved to know that we probably had a few men- well boys that were capable of stopping this. Sure, being children made it a lot harder to be seen as curious, but we had Jesse James and nothing could match up to that. Plus, the rest of the original 'James Younger Gang'. After five minutes, I noticed that the sun was starting to set and that we had to get back home very soon for supper or we'd be facing a whole months worth of chores that were disgusting, and just plain old revolting.
It was silent, just so incredibly silent.
"Ben. . ." Cole trailed off, slightly falling behind.
"Yes?"
"What are our chances of successfully being Thaddeus this time around?"
I let out the breath I was holding. "Slim to none, probably. But that doesn't mean we give up Cole. It is up to us to change those odds." He nodded his head in affirmation. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, I saw this really pretty girl looking at you in town," he answered shyly, "and she even blushed when I waved to her. Such a pretty girl, Ben."
"Stop sounding so sappy, Cole. We can't worry about girls now, you should know that," I answered sternly.
"Fine."
We were followed by silence again. I didn't like to cut Cole off and make him sound like I was such a brute but girls were the least of our concerns right now. We had so much work to get done tonight and over the next few days. I didn't even know if were capable of becoming as good as my fathers gang. We were absolutely nothing like them, and they were all in their twenties and early thirties. They were men taking on other men and we were boys taking on other men. Did anyone see the problem I was faced with? Suddenly, I groaned and continued to ride towards the sunset. Cole didn't even attempt to talk to me and it only destroyed me inside.
|| Cole's POV ||
Don't get me wrong, I look up to Ben and he was my role model and everything but he seemed so energy drained lately. Was he getting much sleep? I was his concerned little brother, wondering why he suddenly didn't care about girls at all. Ben always cared about what girls thought because he knew that his time to get married was running out, even though he wouldn't quite tell me the circumstances to that dilemma. As his younger brother, I wasn't about to give up because I knew this girl had been fancying him for a long time but Ben showed absolutely no interest.
Pretty soon, I found that I was falling behind considerably and Ben didn't even seem to notice. Why was he like this? One minute he seemed like he cared and the next moment he was a completely different person, which struck me as odd because that definitely wasn't his personality. It was as if something was eating him up. . . I just felt so worthless and useless.
BOOM!
I heard a loud noise in the distance to hear something go off. It was so loud and powerful that it shook the ground from beneath us, the horses neighed in fright and threw me off the horse before I could even clutch to the rains. After a few more booms, it sounded like it was slightly going away and I thought I was going to pass out until Ben ran towards me and sat me up.
"Are you okay?" he asked, frantically searching the surroundings for some sort of explanation to such a boom.
"I think," I groaned, grabbing my head. As I pulled my hand away, I saw blood coated on my hand. I must have cut my head open from the fall or on a rock. That was not how things were supposed to go! I mumbled a few words incoherently until Ben shook me violently and picked me up into his arms.
"Let me down! I'm not a baby!" I hollered, trying to squirm out of his grasp.
"Shh," he whispered. "There are men pretty close. I have a feeling this has something to do with that damn railroad," Ben cursed. Lately, he seemed to be using a lot of improper language; at least he wasn't using it around girls since that had been forbidden in Liberty for about five years now. Ben carried me behind a bush and sat me down. "Here's my handkerchief. Hold this to your head to stop the bleeding."
I nodded my head, knowing that Ben wanted me to stay silent. "Are we going to die?" I croaked, ten minutes later. "It's dark out and I'm sure Ma is awfully worried, Ben.
"Yes, I'm sure she is. . . but we can't worry about that right now if we want to get out of here alive. Just follow my footsteps and we can make it to Amelia's house for the night."
I coughed and stopped in my tracks. Did he say what I thought he did? But, why Amelia's house? That girl absolutely despised us because we were far more well known in the town than her family. Especially since she had only lived around here for about a year. Ben's whole idea was destined for doom. How did he expect Amelia to welcome us into her home with open arms? She was revolted by my looks, always have a cocky attitude like a girl. Amelia even dressed like a guy sometimes! What did Ben want with her?
"Are you insane?" I whispered angrily. "She could be mistaken for a guy and she hates us on top of that. How do you plan to make this work?"
Ben just cracked up and patted me on the back. "Amelia owes me a favor." And that was it. Those were the only five words out of his mouth on the thirty minute walk to her house, even through my protests and various questions. He'd just stop and turn around, shooting me angry and frustrated looks. I knew I was getting annoying by the glances he shot at me. The best I could do in this situation was just keep my big, fat closed and out of a conversation for once.
After all, the whole town thought I should win an award for most talkative person ever in Liberty. How lame! Soon after, my feet were beginning to drag and I could barely walk anymore. "Ben, I'm not used to walking so much. my head hearts. Bam! I collapsed to the ground, barely able to keep my eyes open.
|| Ben ||
Once I heard that thud, I ran towards my brother and did my best to keep him awake. I think the blood loss was actually starting to affect him worse than I had previously assumed. . . and. . . Amelia- well, her house was so close and I couldn't give up for the sake of Cole. He was my only brother and my father taught me to never leave the wounded behind, even if you are sure that you won't make it out alive. As I hoisted him over my shoulder, I could hear the galloping of horses in the slight distance. It had seemed that they were catching up a lot faster than I had thought.
"Let's go buddy," I whispered, hoping I could make it for three more minutes. Her house was in sight but I didn't want to start running in fear that my legs would give up and I'd pummel to the ground, killing us both. I was pretty sure that we were being followed when we left town, I had been trying to ignore it and not say anything so I wouldn't frighten Cole. Those men couldn't know what we knew.
Finally. I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached her door. Setting Cole softly down onto the porch, I knocked the door and waited patiently for someone to answer. I knew that it was awfully disrespectful of me to disturb people at such a late hour, but Cole needed medical attention and I just needed some rest and a way to get in contact with my parents. They had to be worried sick.
Soon, a man emerged with a shot gun in his hand. "Pinkerton, if that is you again, I swear I'll blow your head off. I told ya that I'm not selling this land!"
I worked up my courage to speak. "No sir. This is Ben James and I'm here with my brother Cole James. Please, sir its an emergency. Can you let us in?" I heard shuffling behind the door and then it swung open.
"Boy, what are ya doing all the way out here?"
"We were being followed. Then, a couple of huge booms went off, scaring our horses and it threw my brother off and he got hurt, unlike me. Can you try and help him and I'll tell you anything you want?" I begged, sounding so pathetic in the process.
The man coughed a few times. Then he closed the door and began talking quietly to another person as I stood there anxiously with my brother seriously hurt. I was about to interrupt his little chat when he finally opened up the door and let us enter.
"You give Amelia any trouble and your gone!"
"Yes sir."
He showed me up to an extra room and let me get situated. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
I nodded my head, "yes sir."
He chuckled. "Boy, you don't need those stupid formalities with me. I'm Amelia's older brother and I don't think I need you calling me 'sir.' I'm sure you look around my age."
"Yeah," I choked out, wondering how my little brother was doing. Everything had gone so wrong and I had gotten him into more trouble than I wanted him in. He was truly a good kid. Cole didn't deserve to be near death. Finally, I told Amelia's brother what was on my mind. "I've got to get to my parents. My pa is going to have a heart attack in his position. Do you have a horse I can borrow?"
He stood there, looking down on me with a strange smile that I couldn't quite tell what the expression was on his face. When I actually thought he was going to say anything, he just shook his head at me. "We'll get them in the morning. I'll send the word with one of my workers on his way home. But, where's the fire at?"
I shook my head. "My friends and I are forming are gang tonight but they are probably at my house right now worrying my parents even worse than before. Gosh, its not my fault that Pinkerton and his crazy men are trying to take us out before history repeats again and-
"James? Are you Jesse James son?" he asked in awe.
"Yes, but if we don't stop Pinkerton then our lives and homes are in jeopardy again!"
I took a deep breath and looked up at the man standing in front of me. He seemed to be awe- struck with the fact that I'm Jesse James son. Really, I didn't exactly understand quite what the big deal was. Nobody really talked about the past anymore and nobody cared.
"If you are up to stop Rains and Pinkerton then you can count me in!" He came and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm Matthew. Amelia's oldest and only guardian."
I shook his hand firmly. "What about your parents?" I asked, careful not to upset Matthew too much.
"Dead," he answered coldly. "That man they hung back then, well that was my father and my mother died giving birth to Amelia. Our grandparents live down in Texas so there isn't much of a chance of me sending my dear Amelia all the way down in the hands of strangers. It would take months just to get down there."
I sat there quietly; it was finally clear why Amelia wasn't much of a talker when we were in school. I guess I had always thought she was too stuck up and snobby . . . never truly judging on her personality. I was turning into a cruel and heartless being. And I felt so disappointed with myself.
"Hey. Just get some sleep and we can talk in the morning." I nodded my head and Matthew blew out the candles and closed the door.
|| Cole ||
I remembered falling off my horse and hitting my head on some sharp object, but the rest was a complete blur after that. Where was I? I shot up out of the bed I was in, scurrying to the door as I heard small talk going on in another room. My head was pounding in agony but I needed to get out of here. Then, all of the noise stopped as someone came knocking on the door. Quietly, I ran back to the bed and buried myself under the warm covers. They couldn't know that I was spying; I was just curious.
A few minutes later, the door slowly came creaking open. That was when I saw the most beautiful thing ever. Completely blowing my cover I whispered, "An angel." She seemed a bit startled at first but then she came to sit in the rocking chair.
"Hi Cole."
How did she know my name?
"How do you know my name?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Amelia's told me a lot. I just know a lot about you. Don't you remember me, Cole," she teased in the darkness.
Trying to figure out who she was, I closed my eyes and envisioned every girl I had ever come in contact with and that's when I knew who she was. She was that girl that I thought was staring at Ben! "But- but weren't you looking at Ben?"
"No silly. I was looking at you. Besides, Ben isn't my type."
"Your type?" I gulped nervously. I never knew girls had such preferences with men.
"Yeah, but I don't want to bug you now Cole. You need your rest. Oh, and I got in contact with your parents. They seemed awfully worried at first but then they called down considerably and let me leave the house. You have amazing friends and family," she cooed.
I rolled my eyes. Sure, this girl was pretty but she was starting to annoy me now. She was openly hitting on me! I despised girls that chased men. It was up to the men to chase girls, well that's what Uncle Cole had told me. Sighing, I mumbled to the girl that I was tired and I pretended to be asleep. As I thought she was about to go to sleep, she kissed me on the forehead. I did my best to keep a straight face.
As soon as she left the room, I rubbed her saliva off of my forehead with a cloth of some sort. Boy, today was not turning out like I had imagined it to. That girl had gotten way too close to me. And like Ben had said, there was no time for girls.
From all the thinking, I slowly fell asleep, only wondering what tomorrow was going to bring.
|| Amelia ||
I was disgusted when I opened the door and Molly Harris came barreling in and cooing about her boyfriend being hurt. At first, I thought she had meant Benjamin but then she started going off on Cole. But, the real odd part was that no one could have possibly known about him being hurt unless she was following him. I wouldn't doubt that she has something to do with the railroad.
Once I let her in, I showed her to the room but I got Matthew and I started spilling out how strange things were. That's when he told me what Benjamin's last name was. He was a James! How did I not know that? Sure, I knew he was an excellent student but the teacher never cared to ask our last names. Now, I was embarrassed to have him in my house. Was it good enough for famous Jesse James son?
I started to hyperventilate, but Matthew wrapped me in a hug and told me that Benjamin didn't care about money and the way people lived. He was a down to earth guy. But, how could I believe that? Most men I knew were revolting and just itching to touch me in ways I didn't want them to. After that one mishap, Matthew has never let me go anywhere and I mean anywhere alone. Too many drunks live in this town.
Matthew told me to go to bed but I didn't want to. I wanted to talk to Benjamin and let him tell me a story about his father, the real story. See, every different person had their own way to say how the Jesse James story went, but I had his own flesh and blood in my house. Maybe, just maybe, I would know the whole and complete story of the most famous outlaw 'Jesse James'.
Once Matthew went off to bed and Molly left my house, I walked down the short and narrow hallway to the room Benjamin was staying. Reaching for the doorknob, I opened it hesitantly only to be dragged into the room with a hand over my mouth. When I thought the person was about to kill me, they released me and ungracefully walked back towards his bed.
That's when I really heard him speak for the first time. "Ya know Amelia, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that."
When he said my name, it sent chills down my spine. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how you were doing and if you were awake before I went to bed."
"You don't have to take care of me, I'm not a guy who's going to make you wait on me with hand and foot. But, I'm glad you were concerned and nice enough to check up on me. Next time, please knock. I've been brought up that if you think your life is threatened, to take action. You are just very lucky I knew the scent of your perfume."
I laughed into the stiff air.
"But, now anyone can sense Molly Harris's perfume. That women is such a disgrace to the female species. I know she came to see my brother. Did you catch her saying anything?" he asked.
I almost went 'awe' at how cute he looked with that expression on his face. He really was good at everything without even barely trying. I just wanted to wrap him in my arms and never let go. Wait! I couldn't think like that.
"No," I answered quickly. "She just wanted to see Cole and talk to him. She was talking way too soft for me to eavesdrop-
"So you're an eavesdropper," he drawled, seductively.
"Well- to an extent, yes."
That would come in handy. "If I paid you, would you mind doing some small work for me that requires you in just using your ear?"
He had truly touched me with his words. He wanted my help! "You want my help?" I croaked.
"Any outlaw needs to know what he's faced with." He winked and got off the bed, slowly heading in my direction. I thought he was going to kiss me because I felt his breath on my neck, but he only lifted my necklace into the light. "This is beautiful. Where did you get this?"
"Matthew said it was my mom's. Then, he gave it to me." I knew I was skipping a lot of details but there truly wasn't much I could say to him. I didn't know him that well.
"I know," he answered quietly, letting go on the necklace.
"Oh. I got to go. I need some sleep." I turned around only for him to grab my wrist.
"Goodnight Amelia." He kissed me on the cheek and I flushed in embarrassment.
"Goodnight Ben." I walked out of the room, heading in the direction of my bed. Tonight was going to be a good night, a very good one indeed.
A/n: I normally don't like putting these in here, but my next update will probably be in mid November. See, I am moving into a new house in about two weeks, so I have a little time to write the next chapter but after that, I have to get a different internet provider (the one I have really sucks) and then I have to set up the computer. Hopefully, you won't have to wait too long. I promise to try and get it up quickly. Thanks.