"Could I go take a bath?" Samantha asked, trying for the thousandth time to find away to get Chavez to let her go somewhere by herself. Chavez smiled at her.
"Only if you want me to go with you," Chavez said, winking at her. Samantha rolled her eyes.
"Why won't you just let me go?" Samantha asked, "what do you want with me anyway?"
"It's personal," Chavez said, staring down into the fire he had built a few hours earlier.
"Well, it obviously has something to do with me," Samantha said, "maybe that makes it my business." Samantha said and instantly regretted it when she seen the look in Chavez's eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself, scared of the anger she saw.
"It's not your business, Miss Allen," Chavez replied, angrily, "It's between me and your father." Samantha suddenly felt bad and she didn't know why. It was something that she saw in his eyes. Sure the anger was there but beyond that there was a sadness. Samantha looked down at the ground.
"I'm sorry, Chavez," Samantha whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear her. A smile came to his face as he watched the girl. She was avoiding his eyes once more.
"Why do you avoid my eyes every time you say something nice to me," Chavez asked, knowingly. Samantha stared at the ground.
"It's not easy for me to admit when I'm wrong," Samantha answered. Chavez nodded.
"Me either," Chavez said, "but that's why I don't apologize." Samantha looked up at him and smiled.
"Never?" Samantha asked.
"Never," Chavez replied.
"Haven't you ever done anything you felt bad about?" Samantha asked. Chavez nodded.
"I think everyone has," Chavez said, "but I don't see the point of apologizing for something if your not sure you won't do it again." Samantha nodded.
"That makes sense," Samantha replied, shivering and wrapping her arms around her shoulders before laying down on the bedroll and wrapping her arms around herself. Chavez nodded and sighed.
"It's getting cold out here," Chavez said, "it might snow. I'll stay up tonight and make sure the fire doesn't go out. You get some rest." Samantha nodded and shut her eyes, already tired, if only from being in the same place for over twenty four hours.
William and Josh we're sitting on the porch waiting when Marshal Wilkes and the posse rode up to the house right before dusk. Marshal Wilkes jumped down from his horse and walked over to the edge of the porch, directly in front of William.
"William, Josh," Marshal Wilkes said, tipping his hat slightly to the men. William nodded.
"Marshal," William replied, staring up at the man on the horse in front of him. William tipped his cowboy hat at the men on the horses behind the marshal.
"When your ready we'll head out and start searching for Sammie," Marshal Wilkes said.
"We're ready. Luke is going to stay here with Elizabeth," William said before turning to Josh, "go get the horses ready." Josh nodded and jumped off of the porch to make his way to the barn and do as his father asked him.
It had been over an hour since William and Josh left with the posse. Elizabeth was laying on her bed, staring out the window at the moon wandering if Samantha could see the moon, hoping that Samantha was still alive but worrying that her worst nightmare may have already come true.
Chavez watched the girl sleep across the fire from him. Most of the ground was already covered with little white flakes of freshly fallen snow. It had been snowing for an hour and he was freezing but there was nothing more he could do about that. He could tell the girl was cold too because he could see his bedroll move as she shivered in it. Chavez stood up and walked over behind it. He reached down, touching her side to try to scoot her a little closer to the fire when her eyes fluttered open. She looked up at him with fear in her eyes.
"What's going on?" Samantha asked, blinking her eyes as a snowflake fell into one of them. Chavez went ahead and scooted her a little closer to the fire.
"I saw you shivering. I thought you might want to be closer to the fire," Chavez said, not meeting Samantha's eyes. Samantha smiled as she looked up at him.
"Thank you," Samantha said, quietly. Chavez gave her a small smile before walking around to the other side of the fire and starting to sit back down but Samantha's voice stopped him.
"You must be cold. We could share the bedroll," Samantha said, blushing instantly, "I mean, I'm not very tired. I could sit beside you and we could wrap it around both of us." Chavez smiled at her.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," Chavez said, sitting down and rubbing his hands together over the fire. Samantha nodded and rolled over onto her side to face him.
"You would never admit something like that, would you?" Samantha asked. Chavez reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. Chavez took a long drink and sat the bottle down on the ground beside him but didn't answer her.
"Does that help?" Samantha asked, glancing at the bottle of whiskey. Chavez nodded.
"Yeah, it helps a little," Chavez said, watching as Samantha slipped out of the bedroll and stood up. Samantha wrapped the bedroll around her shoulders and walked over to him, slipping it around his shoulders as she sat down. Chavez smiled into the fire, putting an arm around her and pulling her closer so the bedroll would cover more of both of them and keep them warmer.
"Your not as mean as you think you are," Chavez said, smiling down at her. Samantha looked up into his eyes, she felt a tingling sensation where his hand was resting on her side.
"Neither are you," Samantha said, staring up into his eyes. Chavez nodded.
"Yeah, I am," Chavez said, slowly lowering his mouth onto hers.
Samantha closed her eyes as he kissed her. It was so soft and slow, the complete opposite of what she had expected it to be.