Jack stepped outside on the porch, a cup of coffee in one hand, his hat in the other, and Kate behind him. She followed him to the steps, and he turned around, to look up at her.
‘Are you coming home for dinner?’ she asked.
‘Of course,’ he replied, shrugging, ‘Why wouldn’t I?’
‘Oh well, you know, I was just makin’ sure,’ she sighed.
He took a last sip of coffee from his mug and gave it to her.
‘See because there’s something kind of important that I’ve been waiting to talk to you about,’ she said, ‘And I was gonna wait around ‘til about that time to tell you…’
He raised a brow, his curiosity pricked, ‘Oh… And just exactly what were you planning to tell me?’
She fingered a button on the front of his shirt and shrugged her shoulders, biting her lip. She seemed troubled, and he became a little concerned.
‘Kitty…?’ he said softly now touching a hand to her face, ‘What is it, doll?’
‘I’m just worried,’ she whispered, avoiding his gaze.
‘What about?’ he asked, smoothing back her hair.
‘Well, see I’m just not so sure how I should go about telling you since I don’t really know how you’ll react when I tell you that I’m pregnant,’ she sighed, looking him in the eye now.
He began to speak, but stopped himself, unable to find the words, unable to breathe. At last, he managed, ‘ ‘scuse me?’
A small smile flickered onto her lips, ‘You should close your mouth, Jack… You’ll catch flies…’
His mouth clamped shut, and he stared at her. It was silent between them for a long while.
‘How long have you known?’ he whispered, taking hold of the guardrail for support.
She bit her lip in thought and replied, ‘I’d say about three months now…’ He blinked.
‘Well, I didn’t want to tell you at first,’ she sighed, taking his hand, ‘I didn’t want you to worry or get upset or get your hopes up again… But then I figured you would notice after awhile…’
He grinned, looking down at their hands.
‘You’re gonna be a daddy, Jack,’ she said, a tear drop rolling down her cheek.
He nodded and kissed her cheek with a tenderness she had never known before.
‘I’ll see you around noon,’ he said softly, releasing her hand, ‘Oh, and Patty’s sick so Matt might come over.’
She nodded and watched him go down the walkway and down the road until he disappeared around the corner.
‘Katie, I wonder sometimes how Jack isn’t the fattest man alive the way you cook,’ Matt remarked, taking another piece of chicken from the pile in the middle of the table.
‘Is that supposed to pass as a compliment, Matthew?’ chuckled Jack, taking a sip of water.
‘She gets what I mean,’ Matt grunted.
Jack shook his head, spearing a potato with his fork.
There was a knock on the door. Jack wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.
‘Jack, I can get it,’ Kate said, standing up.
‘Sit down, Kitty,’ he said, and walked down the hallway that led to the front door.
He peered through the curtain first, and put his hand on his holster as he opened the door when he saw it was a filthy man he had never seen before.
‘Can I help you?’ he asked, raising a brow.
‘Are you Jack Harland? The marshal?’ asked the man.
‘I am,’ Jack replied, stepping onto the porch as he shut the door behind him.
‘Then yes you can,’ the man replied and held out a sullied, wrinkled sheet off paper.
Jack raised his brow, but took it, ‘What’s this?’
He unfolded the paper and saw there was only a single word written in childish scrawl. “Bang”
‘Say uhh… you remember a fella by the name of Stokes? Charlie Stokes from the Dakota Territory?’ asked the man.
Jack bit his lip, and shook his head, ‘I can’t say that I recall such a name.’ He pocketed the paper and scratched his jaw in thought, ‘Hmm…now let me see… He wouldn’t happen to be a cattle rustler, would he?’
‘That’s right,’ replied the man, grinning a little.
'Yep… I put him away for six years, didn’t I?’ Jack sighed.
‘You sure did,’ the man agreed, nodding.
‘I don’t remember him at all,’ Jack huffed, ‘Now then, you want to tell me what this here paper is for? Who it’s from?’
‘Oh, Leland Harrelson sent you that,’ the man said, ‘Says you should keep on your toes.’
Jack nodded, ‘Anything else I should know?’
‘Well, there’s one more thing I need to deliver, but it’s not from Leland,’ he said.
‘Oh? Well then who’s it from?’ he asked.
‘It’s from me,’ the man growled, holding a rusty old pistol up to Jack’s brow.
Jack looked up at the barrel, crossing his eyes to see it better, and then he said calmly, ‘Well thank you Charlie, but I’m not really in need of another bullet, I’ve got plenty.’
Charlie blinked and looked at him, gritting his teeth.
‘Jack-‘ began Matt as he stepped outside. He froze in the door way, and Kate gasped when she saw Jack standing at the wrong end of a gun, ‘Oh my goodness...’
‘Go back inside, Kitty,’ Jack said, staring at Charlie.
She did not move, ‘Jack…’
‘Kate,’ he said gruffly.
She swallowed.
He and Charlie locked eyes, Jack’s gaze flawlessly composed and unblinking, while Charlie’s was scared, and desperate. It was a strange thing to watch. At first, Charlie’s hand began to tremble, his breath became short and heavy, and a film of perspiration coated his skin. Jack only stood there, his hand in the air, palms out.
Silence.
‘Stop it!’ Charlie shouted at him.
Jack blinked, but remained quiet and cool.
Charlie growled through his teeth with frustration and dropped the pistol.
‘Are you done?’ Jack sighed.
Charlie nodded.
‘Good,’ Jack huffed, running his fingers through his hair, ‘Now then, are you hungry? Because I know I am. In fact we’d just sat down to dinner, home cooked… You know, I’m not one to brag but my wife’s cooking is just about the best cookin’ you’ll ever eat.’
Charlie stared at him, aghast, ‘Are you insane?’
Jack only shrugged, clapping his hand onto his shoulder as he led him inside, ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
Once they were in the kitchen again, Jack pulled out an empty chair for Charlie to sit, across from his own place, and motioned for Kate to serve their guest as he sat down.
It was silent for a while, and the only one who continued to eat was Jack, his fork scratching his plate and clinking as he dropped it in order to take his glass up for a drink. Finally, he cleared his throat and glanced up at Charlie, ‘So, what have you been up to these days?’
‘Just…tryin’ to get by I guess…’ he replied slowly.
‘Hmm…’ Jack nodded as he swallowed another mouthful of collard greens, ‘I see… well let me ask you something, Charlie.’
Charlie blinked, and then nodded once.
‘Did you like it in prison?’ he asked, sitting back in his chair.
The other went pale.
‘A man likes to be answered,’ Jack said. Kate saw a dark flash in his eyes, and knew he had gone mad.
‘No… I didn’t…’ Charlie shook his head slowly, gulping.
Jack licked his lips, ‘Hmm.’
The silence was thicker with tension than it was before.
Jack pulled out the piece of paper that the other had given him before and set it down on his empty plate, ‘I suppose Leland sent you hear to spook me…to rattle my cage and what not… I’ll bet he even promised you that he’d pay you enough money to buy those cattle that you were trying to steal so you could get that ranch started in El Paso like you were planning to do when I caught you the first time. See that’s why you took the job Leland wanted you to do. You knew you’d be able to get close enough to me, and you’d try to kill me to get back at me for delaying your little plan. The only problem with that plan was the fact that you ain’t a killer. You probably couldn’t even shoot a lamed horse to put it out of misery.’
Charlie’s brows furrowed, his eyes darkened. He lunged for Jack, who whipped out his pistol and aimed it, pulling back the hammer with his thumb all within a blink of an eye, and he growled, ‘You sit right back down.’
Charlie trembled with rage but sat down.
‘You had better not go back to Leland,’ Jack told him, ‘‘Cause if I know Leland, and I do, he won’t like to hear that you didn’t do as you were told. Because you didn’t rattle me you just rattled my cage and pissed me off, see, ‘cause I don’t much like being threatened. I don’t like being threatened in my own home even more than that and I don’t like it when my wife is scared because you threatened me in my own home. You just bought a one way ticket to my fightin’ side. And ask anyone around these parts, that particular side of me ain’t too safe. Hell, you would be in a safer predicament right now, if you were soaked in kerosene while standing in the middle of a burning building.’
Charlie swallowed, paling as the fire in Jack’s eyes scorched into his gaze. Kate held her breath, glancing from Charlie, to Matt, to Jack. She did not know what would happen next.
Charlie bit his lip, and snatched up a knife that lay on the table, lunging over the table once again. Jack fired and he dropped the knife as he crumpled on top of the table. Holstering his gun, Jack kicked Charlie off the table to the floor and dragged him up to his feet by his hair, ‘I like it when people try to kill me in my own home in front of my wife less than I like to be threatened, you know that? Stand up; it’s just your stomach.’
Charlie groaned as Jack dragged him outside to where his horse stood patiently and tossed him into the saddle, ‘It’s too bad you couldn’t stay for desert, Charlie… Kitty made a cake and everything.’
I also like the way the characters are being developed and the plots moving along.
You don't have too many errors, but I did notice quite a few places where there were run-on sentences, etc.
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Points: 1226
Reviews: 74