AN: Howdy! I'd like to thank my wonderful outlaw pre-readers:
"Let'sjustdance" with wolves and Stands with a "GeezerWench"
(Did ya'll see that movie?)
Also "GeezerWench" helped me gussy up my summary...and I'm right proud of it now :)
Thank you!
"How good of a liar are you, girl? Jasper asked as he removed a pouch of tobacco from his pocket.
Bella swallowed back her fear of the man, her eyes downcast, as she answered him. "I can do it. I'll say whatever I have to. Just help me get Jake to the doctor." Whatever her needs were now came second to those of her friend, her friend that she had accidentally shot. She felt horrible and guilty every time she looked at him. He was trying to be brave. Every time their eyes met she knew she was forgiven, but she couldn't forgive herself.
"Mind if I have a smoke?" Jasper asked, almost as an afterthought, his match in hand.
"No, go ahead." Bella said.
He lit his cigarette and inhaled deeply. Bella could feel his eyes on her, but she wouldn't return his gaze.
"It could mean trouble for all of us if you can't stick to the story." Jasper warned.
"I think it's better if she doesn't say too much at all." Peter said as he assessed the situation. "She don't look like much of a liar. Just leave the talking to me."
By the time they made it back to the mules, it was decided that Jake would ride one of them, since he had been shot, and the brothers would take turns between riding the other mule and walking. Bella would be carried to make it look as though she was in a bad way. They would all stay together. Jake refused to leave Bella alone with the strange men, and the brothers wanted to keep Jake close because they didn't trust him.
Before they reached the edge of the trees, they tore Bella's dress, and smeared it with Jake's crimson blood. Peter grabbed up a handful of dirt and rubbed it into her back and then roughly tousled her hair with it.
"Hey! Was that necessary?" Bella asked as she wiped the dirt from her hair and face.
Peter wanted to smile but he tried not to. His mouth was in too much pain. His bottom lip had split and scabbed over, but every time he moved his mouth a certain way it would re-open the wound. "Jasper is going to carry you first. Age before beauty. Dang it!" Peter had smiled and split his lip open again. "Someone might find us before we make it to the Doctor's house. If that happens, act like you are ill. Don't speak much, if at all. Listen to what I say and go along with it. Understand?"
Bella nodded her head.
Then Jasper picked her up easily, and they began their trek towards the fort. Bella felt uncomfortable in the strange man's arms. She focused on the ragged hem of her dress and twiddled it between her fingers to avoid looking at his face. He smelled of sweat, tobacco, and sour whiskey. It crossed Bella's mind that the man might be an outlaw. She took a quick glance at his face. His right eye was swollen shut, and he was cut and bleeding. His teeth were clenched, and he looked pained. All at once, Bella felt bad for the man carrying her, and she looked away.
Bella wasn't the only one who had stolen a glance. Jasper had looked down at the girl in his arms more than once. She was breathtaking, and she smelled fresh, like soap and pears. She hadn't looked up at him once, so he hadn't seen her eyes, but he was taken with the beauty of her face and her innocent, long-fringed lashes. Her skin was pale and fine like porcelain except for a few light freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her soft body felt wonderful pressed up against his. It had been a long time since Jasper had been that close to a woman.
Too long,he thought.
He would have enjoyed carrying her if his wounded knees hadn't been aching with every step he took. He also felt irritated because of the feelings Bella had stirred up in him. Feelings he never wanted to have again. Dangerous feelings. He had fallen for a woman before and all it had brought him was heartache and resentment. Jasper grit his teeth and felt his anger build towards the girl. Not that she had done anything against him; he was just infuriated that she had affected him.
Jasper looked over at Peter, who was grinning like he didn't have any good sense. Peter knew. He had been watching his brother carrying the girl, and he was certain that Jasper was attracted to her. Not that Jasper had let on. To an outsider, it would have appeared as though Jasper was angry, nothing more, but Peter saw something different. Peter could read his brother like a book.
The knowing look on Peter's face just made Jasper more annoyed than he already was, so he glared at him hatefully until Peter looked away.
"Why don't you want to marry that Newton fella?" Jasper asked, all of a sudden, his eyes fixed straight ahead, his face emotionless.
His voice rolled like deep thunder in his chest beside Bella's ear. She was startled by it and his question. "I'm not in love with him." Bella said quietly, her voice almost a whisper.
"Why not just tell him? Why did you run off?" Jasper asked.
"My father told me I had to marry him. He's a lawman, and there isn't enough work for him here, so he found a better job out west. He says it's too dangerous for me to go with him, and I don't have any other family. He says I'm old enough to marry, and he decided Mr. Newton would be a good husband because he owns a store, and he could provide for me."
Peter started laughing. "So you mean your Daddy sets you up with a responsible man who has money, and you run off? My Pa always said, 'Never try to make sense of a woman.' I reckon he was right."
Bella could feel her face burning with embarrassment. Of course these ruffians wouldn't understand. Just like her father. She was overcome with emotions and started to cry.
None of the men knew how to comfort her, so they just kept quiet. Jasper looked over at Peter a few times, silently warning him to keep his mouth shut.
A few moments, later they saw a team of horses pulling a buggy in the distance.
"Do you know him, Bella?" Jasper asked.
"Yes, that's Ben Cheney. He can take us to Doc Cullen," Bella said. She felt relieved to see a familiar face.
Peter rode ahead and flagged down the young man. When Ben finally saw Bella, weak and covered in blood, a look of horror crossed his face. Bella tried her best to act ill and injured. She had been crying, and it only added to the illusion that she had really been attacked.
"It was a gang of outlaws!" Peter shouted. We fought them off of her. Jake has a gunshot wound, and Bella needs a doctor. They knocked two of my teeth clean out!" Peter lifted his swollen lip to show the young man the damage. "Would you take us to the doctor? She's too weak to ride. We had to carry her."
"Of course," Ben said. "Come sit in the buggy. Those damn no-account outlaws, taking a good girl like Bella. We'll have 'em hanged a'fore sundown." Ben said as he maneuvered his buggy through the tall grass.
They rode across the plains until they arrived at a white stick-built house. There was a rustic wooden sign out front that read "Doctor Cullen."
Peter helped Jasper lift Bella down from the wagon, and Ben went to get the doctor.
Doc Cullen was a compassionate man and a wonderful doctor. He could have had his pick of jobs in hospitals back east, but he knew that he was truly needed right where he was. It was hard being a doctor out in the uncharted wilderness of the western frontier, but he found it especially rewarding. His wife, Esme, was his only nurse. She was also a well respected member of the settlement. She had befriended Bella and taken an interest in the girl when she arrived at the fort settlement two years ago. She had come to live with her father; her last living relative. Bella's father, who hadn't been a part of her upbringing, hadn't known what to do with the girl. He had accepted her into his home, but they had never bonded.
Esme cursed Sheriff Swan when she saw the young woman lying bloodied and broken in the stranger's arms. Her eyes were full of tears as she asked the men to lay Bella in her own bed, at the back of the house. Once the men had left the room and closed the door, Bella hugged Esme tightly and explained that she was unharmed. She told her everything that had happened: running away from the wedding she didn't want, the strange men trying to rescue her, accidentally shooting Jake, and all about their plan to lie to Newton.
"Those strange men might be outlaws," Bella whispered. "They just want the reward for finding me. Please, lie for me, Esme. Tell Doc Cullen. You have to convince him." Bella fell forward on the bed and started sobbing again.
Esme was relieved, but she still had questions. "What do you think your father is going to do about Jake?"
"Nothing. Why should he do anything? He won't find out Jake helped me escape, unless you tell him the truth. You won't tell him, will you?"
"Of course not, Bella. You can trust me. I just wanted to congratulate you," Esme said as her fingers slid over the thin beaded bracelet on Bella's wrist. Esme's cinnamon colored eyes flashed between Bella's and the bracelet.
"Jake gave me this bracelet," Bella stated.
"Yes, Congratulations dear, if he is who you choose to marry then I am so happy for you."
"What are you talking about Esme? It's just a bracelet."
Esme took a deep breath and nervously smoothed back a few strands of lose hair that had fallen from her otherwise neat bun before asking. "How much do you know about the culture of Jacob's tribe, Bella?"
"What do you mean?"
"That bracelet is to his people, like what an engagement ring would be to ours. I had assumed that you knew that," Esme said, softly.
"Oh, God, no," Bella said in a small voice, as she quickly removed the bracelet from her wrist.
Esme patted her young friend on the back comfortingly as she turned and left to find everything she would need to help Bella get cleaned up.
Meanwhile, all the men were situated in the front of the house. The large front room was set up as a make shift hospital. It consisted of two small cots, for patients, and a dark oak desk and shelves where the doctor kept all of his tools, medicines, and journals. Doc Cullen cleaned and stitched the wound in Jake's arm. Jake hadn't made a sound during the procedure, and he had refused all pain killers when the doctor had offered them. He wouldn't accept the morphine or even the whiskey.
"You have to keep it clean," Doc Cullen warned as he wiped his hands. "A gunshot wound can get infected. You could get blood poisoning or gangrene. Come back if it starts to get worse."
Jake just nodded his head and laid back on the cot. He was going to stay with Bella and make sure that she was alright.
Next, Doc Cullen took a look at Peter. He had some knowledge of dentistry, and he thought there was a good chance that he might be able to save the teeth. He absently tugged at his collar-length blond hair as he consulted a few journals, and then offered his patient something for the pain before he began.
Peter accepted the whiskey, and he began to get good and drunk, while the doctor gathered all the supplies he would need to secure the teeth in place.
"Let me hold that bottle, brother," Jasper said as he attempted to take the bottle from Peter. He was not used to drinking liquor, and Jasper knew that Peter could get ornery when he was drunk.
"Oh, no you don't. I'm the one getting drunker today," Peter slurred.
Doc Cullen looked up at Jasper and smiled. "I may need your help holding your brother still. Do you think you could do that?"
"Oh, I can hold him down," Jasper said as he drank some of the whiskey himself and handed the bottle back to the doctor.
"Good, my wife is cleaning off the teeth, and I've decided to splint them with thin metal, as shown in one of my journals. Are you ready Peter?"
"No," Peter said nervously as Jasper held him down.
"Do you want me to attempt to fix your teeth?" Doctor Cullen asked.
"Yes," Peter answered slowly.
"I'm going to place this stick in your mouth to keep your jaw open while I work. You may bite down on it," Doc Cullen explained calmly.
"That's good. I'd hate to bite you on accident, doc. I might get rabies." Peter was the only one laughing at his joke and then he stopped because he had split his lip again.
"Is it gonna hurt, Doc?" Peter asked.
"Be a man, Pete. Let's get this over with." Jasper shoved the stick in his brother's mouth and grabbed his face to hold him still for the doctor. "Go ahead."
Peter started screaming like a woman before the doctor had even touched him. Then Doc Cullen slid the teeth back into their cavities and sat back—confused as to why Peter continued to wail.
Jasper smacked his brother across his uninjured cheek to get his attention. "Shut yer pie hole you big baby. That's the worst of it."
Peter removed the stick and smiled. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Jasper stared at Peter in consternation, ready to smack him again.
"I need you to bite down on this cotton to make sure your teeth are realigned. Then I will cover them with this metal, and it shouldn't hurt at all," the doctor explained.
Peter smiled at the gilded metal in the doctor's hand. "Is that there real gold, Doc?"
"Yes, will you be able to afford it?" The doctor asked.
"I'm good for it, Doc. Fix me up." Peter opened his mouth willingly for the doctor as he tamped the thick metal foil down tight, covering the teeth that had been knocked out, along with their neighbors. The whole time Peter was trying to talk with his mouth open, and no one could understand a word he was saying.
When Doctor Cullen was finally finished, he wiped the sweat from his brow and excused himself to get cleaned up.
"I was saying somebody needs to go get Charlotte so she can see how handsome I am," Peter said smugly as he pushed on Jasper's shoulder almost knocking him from his chair.
"I'll go get her," Jasper said, annoyed with his younger brother. He was ready to go find the saloon and Mike Newton. It was time to collect his reward.
AN: I love reading reviews :)