Ezra had spent most of the journey back to Four Corners deep in thought. His legs stretched out in front of him, his hat tipped down, covering his eyes. To his left, on the opposite side of the stage the woman and young girl sat quietly, the woman wrapped up in thoughts of her own, although smiling pleasantly enough when Ezra caught her eye. The girl had been sleeping, and Ezra had found his gaze on her, her head resting against her mother's side, her long brown hair in little pigtails, reminding him very much of the little girls he'd known when he was growing up, and how he used to pull their hair with glee. He smiled looking at her as she slowly opened her eyes and gazed round. She was as cute as a button, he thought, before letting his gaze drop.
"Are we nearly there mama?" she asked sleepily, stretching a little. The woman turned her gaze from the window to her daughter and smiled,
"I'm not sure. I should think so, maybe an hour or two more."
This was obviously not what the little girl wanted to hear, because she groaned and sat back heavily against the seat.
"That's a long time," she commented, clearly trying to envisage such a stretch. The woman smiled and looked up, Ezra, feeling her eyes on him returned the smile,
"So impatient," the woman smiled at him, before looking back down to her daughter, and running a hand gently over her hair.
"Were we not the same once?" he replied and she grinned at some long-forgotten memory,
"Yes. Yes I suppose we were."
As silence once more enveloped the coach, Ezra reached inside his jacket, letting the folds reveal his gun, relatively hidden until that point. Ezra froze as the little girl gasped, and pushed up his hat with a thumb to see what had caused her surprise. He found her gaze fixed to his gun belt. She looked up at him, her mouth open in awe,
"Do you use it?" she asked quietly,
"Hannah!" the woman chided softly, turning again to gaze out of the window apparently unconcerned by the conversation. Ezra gave a short laugh, and watched as the woman's eyes darted in his direction before turning to the girl,
"Only if the occasion dictates."
She let her eyes wander from his gun to him as a flicker of puzzlement crossed her face. His grin was warm as he watched trying to figure it out. She glanced at her mother, judging the moment before leaning closer to him and whispering,
"Did you ever shoot someone?"
"Hannah," by now her mother's tone was that of a warning, and Ezra smiled again, pulling out his cards and letting his jacket flap back over his belt once more. He looked her in the eye, still amused by the conversation,
"I think it's best we left some things to the imagination miss."
She watched for a second as he began to flick the cards through his hands, and began to fidget in her seat, sidling further from her mother, and closer to him, so that she was almost opposite,
"My daddy was a Sheriff," she paused, "He shot someone you know."
Before Ezra could reply, her mother turned to her quickly,
"Hannah that's enough, please do not go boring this poor man," she looked up at him, seeming flustered, "I'm sorry."
He raised his eyebrows, surprised,
"Nothing to apologise for Miss."
Hannah, upset at being told off, slumped back into the chair, her bottom lip sticking out in resignation, her face sorrowful. Ezra ran the deck through his fingers, until he was sure her eyes were on it. He flipped over the top card, the ace of diamonds and tipped it forward for her to see before adding it to the pile again and shuffling it. Then, as she leant forward eagerly, he cut the deck directly in half, and held the next card up for her to see. The ace of diamonds. A smile spread across her face, and slowly she shuffled off her seat, and came and sat next to him, brushing the soft seat absently as she whispered shyly to him,
"Do you do those miracles for a job?"
He grinned. Miracles! Part of him wanted to say yes, after all, he had done for years, but somehow he didn't think the mother would approve of her daughter sitting next to a gambler.
"More for relaxation purposes I'd say."
She looked up,
"What do you do for a job?"
He paused. Lawman? That sounded far too dramatic, and an exaggeration of his efforts. One of seven men who happened to be paid for policing a town? Far too complicated an explanation to offer.
"I help keep undesirable individuals and events away from a small town."
The girl saw through this once, her eyes glowing with excitement,
"You're a sheriff?"
Ezra smiled to himself,
"Not precisely. I am one of seven such, we...assist the sheriff in his day to day business."
Hannah nodded, seeming convinced enough, and in the lull of the conversation, she offered another topic,
"I'm five."
Ezra beamed down at her, his face turning to mock astonishment,
"Five?" he gasped, she nodded proudly, "Surely not five whole years? Why that's half a decade!"
Beside the window, Hannah's mother turned her head with a smile as she watched the stranger converse so easily with her daughter, who was clearly loving the attention.
"I'm going to be six in..." she paused, her tongue sticking out as she did the maths, "...four months,"
"Six! Why that's practically a lady!"
Hannah blushed and giggled, looking over at her mother, who was smiling just as genuinely. As Hannah shuffled even closer to Ezra he noticed her mother's eyes on him, and swept off his hat, realising his rudeness,
"Madam, I apologise profusely for being so rude. I am Ezra Standish,"
The woman smiled,
"Catherine Moore, and this is Hannah,"
"We're going to Four Corners," Hannah interjected, "We're nomads,"
Ezra was slightly surprised by this, and by the sad smile that crossed Catherine's face, he guessed the words were hers.
"Really? Well it just so happens that I too am on my way there."
Hannah smiled, caught up by the charismatic newcomer, pleased he was heading in their direction.
"What's it like?"
Ezra contemplated this for a moment and exhaled.
It was going to be a long story.
