ON YOUR HORSES, BOYS

Part 18

Josiah stood outside the door of the jail and scanned the streets as Archie Sanders walked Mary back to the safety of the Clarion. The older gentleman had taken it upon himself to escort many of the ladies around town so they could conduct their business without fear, and since Mary had insisted on preparing and delivering meals for the seven men who protected Four Corners he was only too happy to accompany her on her mission. Archie hurried along to open the door to the newspaper office for his pretty young charge, waved her inside and made sure the door was secure before he departed.

Surveying the area one last time, Josiah finally gave in to the smell of hot food and reentered the jail. As he locked the door behind him, he saw JD stuff a large piece of bread into his mouth. "Much better than the food at the saloon, ain't it?" he remarked.

JD nodded as he savored the taste in his mouth. It was the first time Josiah had ever seen the boy actually take time to chew. Usually he bolted his food without regard to what it would do to his stomach, but this was home cooking, something neither of them had tasted in months.

"You know that bread tastes even better when you slather butter all over it," he advised, scooting JD around the desk and into the chair as he made himself comfortable on the bench he'd dragged from the window. "Pass me some of that stew before my stomach thinks my throat's been cut."

JD obliged him and dove into the large helping he'd spooned out for himself. After several enthusiastic bites, he finally came up for air. "That was real nice of Miss Mary to do this for us. I ain't tasted nothing this good ever. I bet Nathan and the others were sure glad to get some." That said, the young man filled his spoon again and shoved it into his mouth.

Josiah wiped his chin. "Amen to that. I doubt Nathan's had time to even think of food, much less where it was gonna come from." He pulled the buttered bread apart with his fingers and paused. "He sure looked worried when he was here before. Ezra ain't doin' so good."

JD stopped chewing at the mention of the gambler's name and stared at the preacher.

"There's not much tellin' what those men did to him in the time they had him."

Dunne set his spoon down and pushed the bread aside as his appetite began to fade. "I ain't never seen anybody so torn up before. Can a man survive what he's been through?"

"I suppose that all depends on the man."

"Yeah," JD said sadly.

"Just remember, that man's Ezra. I have a feelin' he's been through many vicious times in his life, probably all on his own. There's no reason to think he won't get through this, especially with all of us to help him."

The young sheriff didn't look convinced.

"Have faith, JD."

"Oh, I have faith in Ezra, Josiah. I learned a long time ago he ain't all about fancy clothes and pretty talk. He's tougher than he looks. I'm just worried we might not get our old Ezra back when this is all over."

Sanchez thought a moment before he spoke. "I can't say what Ezra's gonna be like on the other side of this, but I figure we'll all be changed by what he's goin' through. We deal with it together. We don't let him down and we don't let him think he's let us down."

"How could he think he's let us down? He nearly died tryin' to protect Chris and Hank."

"When a man suffers at the hands of someone as evil as the Nichols family you don't know what he's liable to wake up thinkin'."

Understanding crossed the young man's face. "It won't matter though, will it," he said with a hint of hopefulness. "We'll take care of him."

Josiah smiled his agreement.

"We're his family now," Dunne added decisively, as if the declaration was something he'd been giving considerable thought.

"From your lips to God's ears."

A grim laugh sliced through the moment like a knife. "A family? You really believe you bunch of heathens are a family?" The laugh sharpened.

JD began to rise but Josiah put out a hand to stop him.

"You're a gang of hired guns!"

Josiah calmly pushed his bowl from the edge of the table, stood and walked towards the cell housing John Nichols. The man now sported two wrapped limbs cradled in the same sling across his chest. He looked ridiculous, sprawled on the cot, but he doubted the youth was aware of it given his ego. Sanchez stood tall outside the cell and looked down on its occupant. "You do like to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

John craned his neck to look up. "I have to entertain myself somehow, there's so little intelligent conversation around here."

"You may be a talkative sort, son, but intelligent you ain't. Seems to me a rabid dog might have more meaningful things to say. And I mean no disrespect to the dog."

"You're out of your mind. You don't seem to understand what it means to be a Nichols."

"Oh, I understand, I'm just not particularly impressed by it."

"You might wanna rethink that, old man."

Josiah paused and cocked his head as if awaiting some sort of divine inspiration. "Nope, mind's made, there's no changin' it now."

JD listened to the dispute and smiled.

"As a Nichols, I'm a part of a family who's respected and envied. Back home, folks would give their eyeteeth just to be near us. We're strong, and powerful and capable of achieving any goal we set. My brothers and cousins want for nothing. My ma and uncle have done great things to secure our future so we can focus on making our family grow and prosper. It's an empire; one that'll last forever."

"That's quite a leap from family to empire."

"You couldn't understand." He tried to raise himself to a more comfortable position.

"You'd be surprised. In the traditional sense families are usually created by the procreation of a man and a woman united in matrimony. It's a blessed thing in the eyes of God. But I hardly think the Good Lord would be displeased by those families created through experience, likeness of spirit or even a common goal."

Nichols scowled.

"Family are simply those people who put you before themselves; they protect you, support you, and jerk a knot in your tail every now and again just 'cause ya need it. My good friend Ezra, the man your family took a knife and a whip to, he's my family, as are Chris and Nathan and young JD here," Josiah said as he squatted down to meet John face to face. "And when I hear someone bad mouthin' 'em I admit it really makes me angry, and I wanna forget I'm a man of God and permanently shut their mouth."

JD couldn't see the look on Sanchez' face, but he knew it must have been intense because he could have sworn he saw Nichols shudder before he pulled away.

There was a long pause before Josiah continued. "But I value my family and I wanna continue to share in the good fortune of having found it, so I control myself. There are times when it takes every ounce of my strength, but I do it."

"Control is highly overrated."

"It's the only thing keepin' you alive at the moment."

John backed away even further. "You call yourself a family. There's no blood between you, not like me and mine."

"Oh, there's blood between us, plenty of it, every time we fight -- for each other and for this town."

"You know what I'm sayin'."

"I'll give it to you that you and the others all sprang from the same womb, but that ain't all it takes to make people family."

"We didn't all spring from the same womb," he answered smugly, "but our blood all comes from the Nichols line."

JD came around the desk and neared the cell. "What d'ya mean?"

"Peter, Mark, Paul and Anthony are all my brothers. Matthew and Luke are my cousins, but they were both raised by Ma. Uncle Simon knew his wife couldn't raise them properly so he put 'em in Ma's care. He always says she's done an amazing job bringing them up."

"Your uncle just took 'em away from their mother?"

"She was too weak, too tolerant to raise 'em right. Uncle Simon spotted it right off."

"So what happened to their ma?" asked JD.

"My uncle kept her around for a while but she kept causin' trouble. Didn't take long for him to get a gut full and take care of her."

"Take care of her, how?"

Nichols cracked a devilish grin, "It's probably best you don't know. You don't look man enough to handle it."

Josiah watched Dunne's look of bewilderment, grateful the youth hadn't been goaded into responding to John's last statement. "JD," he called, "why don't you get back to that stew? It'd be a shame to let it get cold."

The young sheriff followed his advice and returned to his place at the desk. In the meantime, Sanchez rose eying the smirk on his prisoner's face. "You're a lost soul, John Nichols."

"No I'm not, preacher; I know exactly who I am and what I stand for."

"Well I'm afraid you have your ma to blame for that," Josiah replied and turned to walk away.

"They'll come for me. My brothers, my blood, will come for me. They'll show you what family is about!" John shouted just before he broke into a maniacal fit of laughter.

Josiah ignored him and took his seat on the bench. He pushed his half empty bowl towards the pot of steaming stew and motioned to JD. "Care to warm it up for me, brother?"

Dunne beamed when he caught the preacher's meaning.

M7M7M7M7M7M7M7

Vin had been searching the north end of town on his own for more than two hours before he decided to go by the jail to ask Josiah to lend him a hand checking the buildings lining either side of the main street. He banged on the locked door and waited for JD to let him in. "Everything all right in here?" he asked Dunne.

"Yeah, we're good, Vin, what's happenin' back at the clinic?"

"When I left, Buck and Nathan had their hands full. Chris is worryin' the hell out of 'em and Ezra's in a bad way."

"How bad?" Josiah asked as he raised the light in the lantern.

"Bad enough. I'll explain it all later, right now I need your help lookin' for the Nichols. I can't figure where they're hidin' but we need to find them before that wagon comes tomorrow."

Sanchez double-checked his gun belt. "Good idea, it would be a shame for the brat to be all by his lonesome on his trip to Eagle Bend. Any idea where we should start? We've looked the town over three or four times and ain't seen hide nor hair of 'em."

"We start at the beginning – the hotel. JD, you keep a close eye on our prisoner. If you even think his kin are makin' a move to grab him, make as much noise as you can and we'll come running. Don't take any chances, got it?"

"I got it, Vin. Don't worry about me. Just find the bastards who hurt Ezra."

Tanner clasped a hand to the young man's shoulder and silently promised he would do his best.

TBC