Ethan ran into the saloon after hearing the gunshots and couldn't believe what he saw in front of him.
"Amelia…what are you doing?"
Sam just shot him a disgusted look.
"What does it look like she's doing," he said, "She's chasing my customers away."
Amelia didn't look at either man. Her attention was on the man at the other end of her gun.
"One of your customers needs to learn some manners."
Ethan looked at Dakota.
"What's going on here?"
Dakota smiled easily enough.
"This guy grabbed Scarlett to get down to business when your ex-fiancée pulled the gun on him."
Ethan turned to Amelia but she didn't see him. Sam just looked more upset.
"Can't you arrest her for chasing my business away?"
Ethan put his hand up.
"Hold it there Sam; let me find out what's going on first."
Amelia just kept her eye on the prize.
"You ready to leave her alone and take your…business elsewhere?"
The man just looked as angry as he looked fearful.
"Tell this lady to take her gun off of me," he said, "and if she doesn't arrest her."
Amelia sighed.
"That won't be necessary if you let Scarlett go."
Ethan saw that Scarlett rubbed her arm as if someone had grabbed it hard.
"She belongs to me tonight," the man said, "I've already paid Sam…"
Ethan turned to Sam.
"Is that true? You're the one that's handling the payments?"
Amelia took one step closer to the man with her gun.
"Of course it's true," she said, "Bella knew that's how it worked."
Ethan looked at the woman in front of him and he knew she would pull the trigger. She'd done it before in self defense or when protecting one or more of the children.
"Ethan…it's not what you think."
"Then what is it? I asked you a question."
"I…the women get their share of the money…a good portion of it."
"But you get most of it."
Sam nodded nervously.
"Why yes…but I provide the saloon for their use."
"Because these women are making you a lot of money," Ethan said, "Adding to your profits right?"
Sam couldn't deny it.
"Yes…but I had to do that after the mortgage payments started going up."
Ethan didn't need to ask who'd raised him. The owner of the only bank in town, Darrin Wyatt had done it. Why, if he had the capital to pay for the latest boom to manufacture in Paradise? He looked over at Amelia.
"You can put the gun away and I'll handle it."
She still didn't look at him.
"Not until he agrees to take himself elsewhere."
"Amelia, this is Sam's business."
"You just saw how he changed the way he does business and it's degrading."
Maybe, Ethan thought but he knew that for most of these women, if they'd had a chance, they'd pick between bad and worse rather than have that decided for them. Amelia had money as long as he'd known her so she hadn't faced the same choices as Scarlett, Rosie and the others in the saloon.
"We can talk about it after you put the gun down."
Sam chimed in.
"You're hurting my business," he said, "do as he says."
Ethan shot him a pithy look.
"I'll deal with you later," he said, "now Amelia…"
The man just spat.
"I don't want to do my business here anyway," she said, "This woman needs a man to knock her down a peg or two."
"I'm warning you…"
That was Amelia and Ethan realized that whatever had gotten into her tonight wasn't something he recognized in her. But then she'd had a life including in a place far, far away that he couldn't even imagine existed.
"Stewart…you best leave then…"
The man glared at him.
"You don't have to ask me twice," He said, "you run a lousy establishment here."
Ethan didn't mind that the guy wasn't going to endorse the saloon. He just wanted him out of there. Amelia watched him go and then she put the gun away.
"Did you fire it?"
She looked at Ethan's pointed expression.
"No…I heard a gunshot but it wasn't me," she said, "I think someone who left the saloon."
"What did you think you were doing?"
She put her hands on her hips.
"I didn't like the way he treated Scarlett."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Amelia, you didn't like…so you pointed a gun at him?"
She nodded.
"Someone needed to do it," she said, "He can't treat women like that…like they're some merchandise he bought in a store."
"He could have hurt you."
She shook her head.
"No…no he couldn't," she said, "I'm not that soft."
She didn't look it right now. Sam didn't seem very happy with the situation.
"You're not arresting her or at least warning her not to disrupt my business again," he said, "What if she shoots someone next time?"
Ethan paused.
"She wasn't going to shoot anyone this time."
Dakota walked up to him.
"Stewart got on his horse…unsteady but he's on his way out of town."
Ethan wouldn't miss him having heard stories about him and his short fuse. But that didn't mean that Amelia should have pulled a gun on him.
"Amelia, what you did…"
She pursed her lips.
"Look it's over now and I think I'm ready to head on back to the ranch."
She started to walk out without looking at Sam or anyone else as they watched her leave them. Ethan followed her but she didn't seem to want to talk. She didn't pay much attention as he left the building with her.
He grabbed her arm and she pulled it away from him so quickly.
"Don't act like him."
He frowned and then he knew who she meant.
"Amelia I'm not him. You know better than that."
She paused and then she nodded.
"I'm sorry, that's not fair. I'm just tired. We did a lot of work on the ranch, lot left to do."
He looked back at the saloon.
"You did some work in there."
She shrugged.
"Men like that can't get away with treating women as if they're possessions."
He looked down at his boots.
"I didn't know what Sam was doing," he said, "I don't know when it changed."
She furrowed her brow.
"I do…most likely when the new banker raised the cost of doing business for merchants."
Ethan knew that she was right about that. After all, Sam had just been complaining in the saloon.
"Dakota and I will have a talk with him tomorrow about it," he said, "In the meantime, you can't go threatening to shoot people. The town people will just think Bella rubbed off on you."
He knew right then he'd said the wrong thing.
"Bella rubbed off on me," she said, "You don't know anything about what's happened in the past year."
"I know you were gone and that I missed you."
She did respond to the softness of his voice by relaxing slightly.
"It's just that so much happened," she said, "I'm not the same person Ethan and yet…"
She stopped talking as she reached her horse tied up to the rail outside the saloon.
"You still haven't told me what you did," he said, "The places you went…what you saw."
She looked down at her hands.
"Not all of it's that interesting."
"Some of it must be," he said, "You did get to realize your dream you always had of seeing what's out there."
She nodded slowly.
"I guess I did."
He noticed she didn't sound as thrilled as he thought. But she grabbed the reins of her horse patting her neck.
"You need someone to ride back with you?"
She shook her head.
"I'll be fine," she said, "Goodnight…"
She got on her horse as he watched and then looked back at him.
"I'll be in town day after next," she said, "I have to pick up some supplies. Dakota will be doing some work after he's done for the day."
Ethan nodded.
"I'll see you then."
He watched her go and she took off at a gallop down the dirt road that led out of Paradise into the valley where people ranched.
Dakota walked out of the saloon to join him.
"Hey so you going to arrest her or not…?"
Ethan just looked at him.
"Not…"
Dakota smiled ruefully.
"She's back in fine form I see."
Ethan felt irritation prickle at him.
"Don't you have a poker game to lose?"
Dakota grinned wider.
"No…I earned enough money to buy myself another horse."
Ethan said goodnight to him and walked back to his horse to head on back to the ranch. He knew the younger children would be asleep but Claire and Joseph would still be up both studying.
They were when he arrived back and Claire closed her book when he walked in.
"There's still some food on the stove that I kept the boys from eating."
She didn't say anything about why he was so late, because she knew that was part of his job.
"So how was town?"
"Quiet…mostly…"
He didn't feel like mentioning the saloon. John Taylor came in from outside where he'd been sitting.
"You're back."
Ethan nodded.
"Lively night wasn't it?"
He frowned at the Indian.
"What'd you mean?"
John Taylor smiled innocently.
"Oh. Just that Amelia's definitely back in town."
"You heard?"
"I guessed because…"
Ethan finished for him.
"You're old and you're wise," he said, "You were right about her returning to Paradise but she's not the same John Taylor."
"Neither are you Ethan. You've both changed."
"I saw her pull a gun on one of Sam's customer and I swear she was going to shoot him."
John Taylor didn't react to that.
"That doesn't surprise you?"
His friend's face changed.
"No it doesn't…people change in different ways and she's been away a year."
Ethan sighed.
"I know that but I was hoping…"
John Taylor smiled.
"That you'd pick up where you left off," he said, "and that's not what's happening?"
"Something like that."
"It can't Ethan. But that doesn't mean anything. There's more than one path in life."
Ethan knew that but he felt that so much had changed it, more than he knew it.
"I know that," he said, "but maybe too much has changed."
John Taylor looked noncommittal.
"If you say so…I'd better be going," he said, "I have an early meeting with some bass tomorrow at the lake. If you want, you can join me."
Ethan blinked his eyes. He knew that John Taylor being a hermit didn't usually ask for company save that of the children.
"I might just do that…"
With that, John Taylor nodded and walked out of the house leaving Ethan with his thoughts.