P.J. stood tall in front of Ethan in the midst of their faceoff.
"One I raise my gun and fire…fair fight…"
Ethan pointed his gun at an ally turned foe, chuckling without mirth in his voice.
"You'd lose…"
"Yes I would…Two I'd drop the gun and give up…what then?"
Ethan didn't relent.
"Marshal in Sonora."
"No, you can't prove anything that I can't take that chance and I won't go to jail."
Ethan's gun didn't move but he felt his options slipping away. Still…
"What's number three?"
P.J. looked straight back at him.
"Turn around and walk away."
"I can't let you do that."
P.J.'s eyes remained fixed on Ethan's.
"I think you can. I think you will. You see Ethan you got no reason to kill me and…"
Ethan advanced down the hillside towards his quarry.
"You tried to kill me…that's reason enough."
"In the old days it was reason…now I don't think so."
But Ethan didn't stop his forward movement, his gun drawn.
"Don't misjudge me P.J. I'll kill you and not lose a moment's sleep…"
P.J. remained unmoved.
"It was a good reason maybe so…now evening the score is not good enough."
P.J. looked at Ethan a long moment then turned to walk away from him.
"Stop P.J. I mean it."
Ethan's words didn't stop P.J.'s movement away from him back to the horses.
"I mean it…"
P.J. kept on moving, confident Ethan wouldn't shoot him in the back.
"I'll shoot…"
P.J. kept walking.
"Do it…"
His charged word challenged Ethan who just kept following him pointing his gun at his retreating figure.
"I would if I were you," P.J. said, "not that it's a bad change."
He mounted his horse as Ethan watched him do so, gun still drawn.
"Tell Amelia goodbye," were P.J.'s final words as he tugged his reins and rode away from Ethan.
"Sinclair…"
Ethan's voice alerted the slimy man to his arrival and he looked up at him as he entered the building.
"Got in mind we need a new representative," Ethan told him.
"What?"
Ethan put his hands on his hips.
"There's no good will in Paradise…so you leaving?"
Sinclair stared at him.
"You got no proof."
"I know….if I had proof I'd get the law but I don't…"
Ethan removed his hat.
"That's why if I ever see you in Paradise again…I'll kill you."
Sinclair surely sensed the ice coldness of Ethan's voice when he said those words, judging by the quirking of his mouth in response.
He said nothing as Ethan tipped his worn hat before leaving the building. His message had gotten across to the crooked business man.
Ethan entered Mr. Lee's store where everyone awaited him. Mr. Lee, the children from the mine, Ethan's niece and nephews and of course Amelia.
Ben and Georgie saw him first and rushed towards him with unbridled enthusiasm.
"Uncle Ethan…"
He knelt down, his arms open to receive them.
Ben spoke first.
"You killed the marshal Uncle Ethan?"
Ethan paused looking up at Amelia for a long moment.
"No…Ben…"
Then he promptly changed the subject.
"What we going to do about these boys?"
Claire took charge, sighing.
"We can't send them back to the mines."
Georgie piped up.
"Mr. Lee doesn't want them."
Then Ben…
"They have nowhere else to go."
Joseph cut to the chase for his uncle.
"Six orphans or four? What's the difference?"
Ethan just looked at them.
"You're not orphans…You got me…"
His sister's four children looked at each other just then. Mr. Lee approached, his hands on the boys' shoulders.
"The boys will stay with me."
Like that it was settled. Everyone looked pleasantly surprised until Ethan broke the silence.
"I was hoping you'd say that…"
With that announcement, Ben and Georgie hugged their new best friends, joy on their faces.
Ethan walked out of Mr. Lee's store looking for her and there she stood on the veranda looking out into the quietness of a mining town settled for the night.
She cut to the chase immediately when they were alone.
"What happened?"
He knew she wasn't talking about the children rescued from the mine but someone else…
Ethan put his hands on his hips and glanced away.
"He…escaped…"
She threw him one of her pointed looks.
"I don't believe you…"
He rocked on his heels
"Then where is he? I didn't kill him and I sure didn't bring him back…"
She smiled demurely knowing him too well at this point.
"You let him go…"
He shot her a pointed look.
"Amelia men in my profession don't just let men go."
That pronouncement didn't stop her from looking at him in amusement.
"It's bad for the reputation…"
She just smiled at his alibi and then took a different approach.
"Would you have taken the boys if Mr. Lee hadn't?"
Her question took him off guard and he thought about his answer.
"I knew he would…"
She countered him quickly enough.
"But suppose he hadn't…"
Damn the way she challenged him so matter of factly.
"I would have liked to think I'd done something…to stop them from going back to the mines but I…"
Amelia looked down at her hands. He turned and hooked his fingers into his pants.
"Would you have sold the bank?"
Time to put her on the defensive after all…he knew she'd been tempted when approached with a price. She paused.
"I don't know…I like to think I….I don't know."
She honestly didn't at that point because fate had taken her…the both of them in a different direction. She felt perplexed by how life often worked out.
She looked away from him then and he knew she was lost in similar thoughts to his own, and the shouts of the children reminded him that it'd been a long day for all of them.
"I'd better get them home…"
She nodded absently. Then noticing his sudden quietness she looked up at him and what she saw in his eyes…she knew what was coming next…but was she ready for it? She felt her body shiver at the gaze in his eyes, the way he looked at her just then.
Suddenly he grabbed her face with both of his hands and kissed her so thoroughly, so intensely she couldn't draw breath until he'd finished. The way his lips caressed her own before consuming them…the scent of him, all around her. The way he made her feel all of a sudden, frightening and exhilarating at the same time.
It seemed to last forever between them and then… Their first kiss but certainly not their last. A new beginning between them both…
Before she knew what hit her, he released her and just walked away to fetch the children to go home leaving her in his wake.
Leaving her knowing that things between the two of them had changed forever and there was no going back.