A.N - Hey guys, sorry this is so short, I just wanted to get it out here, you know? To lead us into the next chapter. We're nearing the end! And I'm not entirely sure what the ending will be yet, so, yeah. Anything goes.

Chapter Eight

It had only been a month since I last saw Miss Susannah. Only another month without her presence brightening my world, and it felt as if she had been gone years.

At this moment, I'd have given anything to be able to see her - even at a distance.

It seemed that fate wasn't willing to grant me any favours today, however, as it was my duty to go to the outskirts of our town and convince the gypsies that had set up camp there to move on.

They had come in their hundreds, their wagons could be seen on the horizon from the very centre point of town and it was my job as sheriff to drive them away again. People were very suspicious of the travellers we called gypsies, scared that they would come and steal their children before selling them on as slaves.

Superstition could rule some people's lives.

Their skin was much darker then my own tanned shade, their dark eyes were watching me as I approached. It was … disconcerting, to say the least.

"You," an older lady hissed at me, her dark hair tinged grey the smallest bit. "Should not be here. Where you go, death follows."

I froze.

"What do you mean?" I asked the woman suspiciously.

She turned to stare me in the eye.

"It follows you." She spat at my feet disrespectfully. "It has brown hair and green eyes."

"Susannah is not death." I spat back, my calmness dissipating with recent events. "She most definitely is not!"

The elder shrugged.

"She will bring death."

I wisely remained silent, my head dropping downwards as my gaze was riveted on the floor.

"I suppose you also want us to leave," another voice - a male voice - snapped at me.

"Yes." I glanced at him sharply. "I do."

"Well, we're not going any-"

"We will go." The old lady promised. "We do not want to be here when death reigns."

"Susannah is not Death." I repeated.

"Think what you may," the crinkles around her dark eyes tightened as her eyes narrowed to slits. "We will be gone by morning."

I thanked her with a slight bow of my head and re-mounted my horse to gallop back into town.

I needed to find Susannah.

The night was dark, not black, but a deep midnight blue scattered with a dusting of stars and a luminous full moon smiling down on us.

An omen.

I'd finally seen Susannah again and she agreed to meet me here, where we stood now, just outside of her family's manor, yet not where anybody could see us.

"Susannah," I murmured. "Are you okay? Is Paul treating you well?"

She was breaking all levels of propriety by being with me here, but she didn't seem to care.

"It's fine, Jesse." She assured me. "I'm fine. Paul has been perfectly amicable these past weeks."

I sighed.

"Sorry," I whispered, my head daring to rest against hers. "I'm scared."

My voice was almost too quiet to be heard. Almost.

"Jesse," Susannah's hand touched my cheek briefly as she brought me away from the warmth of her skin. "You don't have to be. I'm safe with Paul."

Fear gripped my heart.

"But you're not, Susannah. I was there. I saw him hit you."

"That was the first and last time."

She smiled wryly.

"But what if it's not?"

She remained silent, doing nothing but confirm my fears.

I cannot say what overcame me in that moment. I can only say that it went against everything I'd been raised by. And so, I did the unthinkable.

"Susannah, I love you."

I froze almost as soon as the words left my lips but took her hand in mine and let the warmth thaw me as my lips travelled to her cheek and rested against it lingeringly.

"I don't want you with him."

Susannah's beautiful green eyes were wide and watery, her cheeks pink and her mouth wide in a smile.

"I love you too, Jesse." She admitted softly. "I tried not to. I tried to avoid you, and make the feelings go - it's unfair to Paul for me to love you. I've tried, but I just can't stop."

She was silent for uncountable moments before she spoke again.

"But I can't leave Paul."

Whilst my hands remained loosely around her waist - keeping, in spite of everything, a respectable distance between the two of us - my heart beat furiously fast and my head felt faint.

She was still going to stay with him. She was going to leave me behind.

The idea, in my mind, was unfathomable.

"Susannah, you can't stay with him." I told her passionately. "You can't."

"I can't embarrass him by leaving him, Jesse." She insisted. "I have to stay with him."

I remained silent, racking my brain for a solution to our problem.

"We could elope."

Susannah's suggestion caught me off guard.

"No," I replied. "We couldn't."

I shook my head.

"It would disgrace you and your family," I told her. "As well as my own. I can't do that to you."

"I don't care." She insisted. "As long as we're together."

I can't believe I was actually entertaining the thought of going through with this. It was unbelievable.

"Please Jesse," Susannah whispered. "Take me away from here. Away from him."

It was going to happen.

I was going to set the worst example possible as Sheriff, as well as shame my family even more so on top of the disgrace my cousin had caused us, and I was going to take Susannah Simon away from her betrothed and marry her.

And, to seal the deal, I stole a kiss from her soft - too perfect for the likes of Paul Slater - lips.

It didn't last long, by any standards, but it was enough. The kiss was sweet, perfect and offered me the promise of many more in our lifetime together.

It was really going to happen.

Susannah and I were to spend the rest of our lives together.

I pulled away from her after too short an amount of time and held her face in my hands. Her eyes remained shut as my own studied her face.

I really did love this girl.

"Tomorrow, Susannah." I promised. "We'll leave tomorrow night."

"Thank you." She whispered her reply quietly and allowed me to place a kiss atop her forehead before she left my side to return home.

I waited for her to safely enter her house before I turned and started following the man that had been watching, and listening to, our whole conversation.

The man I had noticed soon after Susannah had joined me, for he had made the mistake of leaning closer towards us to hear our whispered words and, in doing so, stumbled slightly, kicking rocks against each other.

I had ignored it for Susannah had not appeared to notice and I didn't want to alarm her.

But I knew who he was, and who he was working for.

And I had to follow him. For Susannah's safety, if not my own.

Felix Diego.