Billy dismounted his horse in front of the Long Branch. Again his eyes searched for his older brother, but he was nowhere in sight. Billy knew that if he had a chance to talk to James and explain that Festus was only trying to help them, that maybe James would turn himself in to the marshal. However, in James' current state Billy was sure more trouble was only going to follow.
The lanky Charles boy stepped up onto the boardwalk and took another look around. Still no sign of James. He swung around a post and toward the swing doors where he stopped in his tracks. His eyes locked on to Festus as the deputy walked from the back room and rejoined his friends a the table just beyond the far end of the bar.
Billy watched from the boardwalk. He knew that the deputy had told the marshal about James, and likely himself. Suddenly his stomach started to churn and he felt very afraid. He could almost feel the blood drain from his face as he turned and looked back at his horse. His mind raced through the events that lead up to James' idea and they all came back to Lilly.
She wanted a proper house to live in with rooms for a growing family. Billy was the firs to court her and he promised the world to her...then James came along and took her from him. His older brother put him down saying he wasn't' good enough or old enough to care for Lilly Stewart. Tension between the brothers continued to build until Lilly announced that she was pregnant to James and he had no way of supporting her. That's when James came up with his half baked plan to rob the general store. Neither brother expected the outcome of Mr Jonas coming in late that night to do inventory and then being shot. James was a hot tempered individual and Billy despised the way he treated Lilly.
Lilly on the other hand was too afraid of James to tell him that she didn't love him, but loved Billy. And Billy knew it and lived with it; just barely.
Billy stepped back from the door and firmly took the reigns of his horse in his hand. He guided the horse down the street where he spotted James' horse in the livery stable. The young man stood and looked around. His chest and lungs wanted his mouth to yell James' name, but he couldn't. He couldn't because if he allowed his brother to fight the deputy, James would likely died either in a hail of bullets or by a rope. That would leave Lilly for him. The way he meant it to be in the beginning.
Billy then felt weak. His twenty years of life never prepared him for the heart ache and hate that filled his soul. He wanted to drop to his knees and cry. His mind and eyes locked on to his hand that gripped the reigns and that's where Matt and Festus found him. Just standing outside the stable.
"Billy?" Festus asked. "Son? You okay?" Billy didn't respond at first. "Billy. It's me, Festus Haggen. I'm the deputy that you met last night. I brought Miss Lilly in to town fer ol Doc to have a look at. He says that she's doing just fine..."
With the mention of Lilly's name, Billy broke his trance-like state. "Lilly is here?" He lifted his head to Festus.
"She sure is!" Festus smiled broadly. "She told ol doc that she hopes that James never comes back. And fer that matter, neither do I, cause I'm gonna ask her to marry me!"
Billy just starred at the hill man. He wasn't sure if his ears had deceived him. "Huh? You and Lilly?"
Festus nodded and smiled broadly. Suddenly Billy had to find James. No one, no how was going to come between Lilly and himself. That meant even the law.