Walking over to the café', LeighAnn looked beside her at the tall youth walking next to her. "So why are you traveling alone, Jonathan? I mean you look older than you are but not that old. Traveling alone can be dangerous for a kid."
"I'm not a kid." He stiffened. "And I've made it here all the way from Boston alone without any problems."
"I know." LeighAnn answered. "And I'm glad you did. But you didn't answer my question. Why are you traveling alone? You said you were going to your father. Couldn't your mother have come with you?"
"No." Jonathan's voice suddenly turned sad as he stopped and looked over at LeighAnn. "She died a few months ago. That's why I'm going to be with my father."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Jonathan." LeighAnn's voice was soft and tender. "It's never easy losing someone you love."
"Did you lose your mother too?" Jonathan asked. He liked this woman. She showed him kindness that he sorely missed with the passing of his mother.
"Yes." LeighAnn answered. "She died a few years ago. After that it was just me and my dad and brother until they died."
"Oh." Jonathan dropped his head. "I guess I'm better off than you are then. My father's still alive. Of course, I don't know him. He left my mom when I was a baby in order to make money to take care of us. He never came back.
"Oh?" LeighAnn took his arm and they resumed walking to the café'. "But he wants you now?"
"Oh, he always wanted me." Jonathan quickly assured her. "But he couldn't afford me, you see. My mother, well… she came from a wealthy family. She was used to living a certain way and my father couldn't afford that. So he went off to make the money she wanted and left me with mother until he did. When he found out I was alone, he sent for me right away."
"Well, I'm sure he'll take good care of you when you get there." LeighAnn answered with a grin. "But until then, what you say we go get something to eat and let Miss Kitty take care of the both of us?"
"Yes, Ma'am." He returned the grin and walked happily alongside her.
As they approached the café', Jonathan stepped to the left of LeighAnn, as any gentleman would, so that she was close to the building and away from the street. That simple act saved LeighAnn's life and nearly cost him his.
A few steps from the café' door, a man suddenly stepped out of the darkness, swaying back and forth with a gun in his hand, obviously inebriated. "I got you!" The man cried. "You won't steal any one else's job."
LeighAnn recognized the gambler, Graham. The Marshal had thrown him out of town but apparently he'd made his way back. Taking a deep breath, LeighAnn moved forward, right hand down at her side and left hand in the air. "Mister. You don't want to do this." She warned. "I didn't steal your job and you know it."
Standing next to LeighAnn and close to the street, Jonathan stood stock still, not sure what to do. He knew, as a gentleman, his responsibility was to protect the woman at his side. But how? Looking at the man in front of them, he realized the drunk was staring straight at LeighAnn. Jonathan decided to change that.
"Mister!" Jonathan put distance between himself and LeighAnn by stepping out into the street. "Put your gun down." Jonathan deepened his voice as much as he was able hoping to convince the man that he was older than he was. "Leave us alone."
"Go away!" Graham snarled. "This is between me and her." He waved the gun around dangerously but trained it once again on LeighAnn.
Jonathan looked wildly around him for something, anything with which to use as a weapon. There, just a few inches from his feet, he saw it. Looking back at the gambler, he saw the man's eyes were still glued to LeighAnn. Jonathan took a chance. Throwing himself to the ground, he grabbed the rock he saw and tossed it as hard as he could at the man with the gun.
Graham felt the sting of the hard little missile as it hit the side of his head. Furious, he turned his gun towards the one who had lobbed it. "You little insect!" He snarled as he fired at the boy.
A second after he fired, another shot rang out and Graham, in the midst of trying to cock his gun again suddenly stiffened. Eyes rolling back in his head, Graham whirled around towards LeighAnn just before he crumpled to the ground, dead with a single shot to his heart.
Jonathan, who hadn't been hit by Graham's bullet, looked over with widened eyes to where LeighAnn still stood, a gun in her hand and a grim expression on her lovely face.
Prying her eyes off of the dead gambler, LeighAnn met the shocked face of Jonathan. "Are you okay?" She swallowed hard. "Did he hit you?"
"N… no." Jonathan pushed himself to his feet. "No, he missed me. But you didn't miss him."
LeighAnn finally let out the breath she'd been holding and dropped the hand with the gun back to her side. "No." She shook her head. "No, I didn't miss him."
At the sound of shots, people from all over came running in their direction. LeighAnn tremblingly pulled Jonathan to her and hugged him. Only one other time in her life had she ever shot anyone. That time, like this one, she was both grateful that her bullet had hit its target and horrified at what she'd had to do. Hugging that boy calmed her and reminded her that she'd done what she had to. Just like last time.
TBC
