He would see her standing before him, hear her insane prattle about how she had done it all for him. Hear her state proudly and without remorse, how with a stroke of a match, she had burned the soul out of his existence by taking away the family he adored. He would not really see or hear her because his mind was filled with horrific images of charred wood and equally charred bodies and she was the centerpiece in the destruction. She would stare at him, confused at why he was not happy, wondering why he could not see that what she had given him a gift that was meant to set him free instead of kill him a thousand times over.
He would listen impassively, letting Ella state her case for her crimes and then he would kill her. He would fire his gun and care not that he was killing a woman because she ceased to have gender or personality when he had learned the truth. All he knew was the fact that she was the enemy, the destroyer of worlds and the murderer of children. She was everything terrible under the sun and when she stood before him with her back against the horizon, he could see the sky behind her was the color of blood. Only when he pulled the trigger and heard the explosion of gases that slammed bullets into her body, did he feel any measure of peace.
Watching her die, watching her blood soaked into the dirt at his feet was the closest he had come to feeling anything as unrestrained as ecstasy for too long. Everything he felt after she murdered his wife and son was merely a shadow of the living, breathing being he had once been. Passion had been drained from his world and though it was slowly filtering into his existence once again, it had not returned with such potency until this moment. This perfect moment, when he saw her lying on the ground, her eyes wide open and bewildered that he had wrought this violence upon her, when she had only acted out of love for him.
"Why?" She would croak, blood spurting from her mouth, the product of her bullet riddled body.
"Because I never loved you," he would whisper in her ear. He was determined that the last thing she would hear from his lips before she passed into the hell that waited her, was his utter loathing. "I could never love you."
She would stare at him, wounded and crushed, realizing in the final moments of her life what a terrible thing she had done but there would be no time to ask for repentance or to say anything that might earn her salvation in some higher place. The light in her eyes would fade before she was able to ask his forgiveness; not that he was going to give it to her anyway. Before the spark faded away completely, he would spit in her face and leave her to die alone in the dirt like the vile creature she was.
Of course it did not happen that way.
All too soon, he would awake up to the realization that she had died knowing none of the things he would have imparted to her before her end. The perfect moment of vengeance was denied him because he had not been the one to finish things between them. Someone else had killed her. Someone else had killed her, leaving Chris Larabee with the knowledge that in the final hand of this game he had been playing with Ella Gaines, she had once again beaten him.
Yet again.
Mary Travis stared at the note and wondered what god she had offended that would visit upon her the nightmare that was arriving on a carriage in less than a day. If it were not for the telegram confirming the news, Mary would probably have not had the slightest inkling of it until catastrophe appeared at her door with too much luggage and more sibling issues than she would care to remember. The mail, as it was in these parts, was sporadic and uncertain and while Mary had become accustomed to its inefficiency, on this occasion she found herself cursing it because there was no time to write back and prevent this disaster from unfolding.
She sat in her office, reading the telegram once again, debating whether or not to burn it or move out of town, not necessary in that order. Unfortunately, she came swiftly to the realisation that neither alternative would do her any good because it was probable that her sister would arrive here before any of those contingencies could be put in the effect.
She did not know if Four Corners was ready for Catherine the Great because she sure as hell wasn't.
Catherine was coming to town. There was an old saying that women named Catherine were either saints or queens and in her sister's case, Catherine definitely fell into the category of the latter. It was not that Mary had no desire to see her overwhelming beautiful older sister, who was everything that she was not. It was just that when Catherine was around, Mary felt like she was sixteen again, running after her glamorous sister who seemed to hold the entire world in her palm and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had been terribly difficult to have a personality of any kind around a sister who simply captured the attention of everyone around her and knew it.
Mary could not even fathom why Catherine was coming to Four Corners. The telegram had said a scant little and Catherine's letter had not even reached her. Mary hoped it was not another of her parents' efforts to get her to move back to Boston with Billy. Mary knew that her family had never been entirely thrilled with the fact that she had traveled out West with Stephen in the first place but had endured it because Mary would not be talked out of it.
However, since Stephen's passing, they had been suddenly vocal about the subject. While she had told them that she had ties that kept her in Four Corners, she omitted revealing the most important of these connections because she knew that it would horrify them to know that she had romantic designs on an ex-gunslinger now lawman.
Truth be told, Mary thought ruefully, there was not really anything to tell, not since Ella Gaines had been gunned down in the streets of Four Corners some months ago. Since that day, Chris had retreated from her and placed a wall between them the likes of which she had not seen since he first came to Four Corners. She knew he still cared but he was cold and distant in his manner towards her and it broke her heart each time she saw him in the street and knew from the reflection in his eyes that things between them had changed. There was a rage smoldering inside of him he would not confide to anyone, especially her. Mary was equally hurt knowing that after everything they had been through, he could not trust her enough to tell her what was wrong.
The fact that she was not the only one who was languishing in this limbo, told Mary a great deal. Ever since he had shot and killed Ella Gaines, Vin Tanner's relationship with Chris Larabee had become strained. While they rode together and still spoke, Mary had the impression that the close friendship between two men was damaged and poor Vin was at a loss over what to do about it. Mary cursed Ella for bringing heartache to the ones she cared about even when she was rotting in the grave. This rift had occurred because Vin had been the one to pull the trigger on Ella in the final moments of her battle. He had shot the woman when she had been prepared to kill Chris and Mary. The tracker had acted the only way he could and fired, never realizing that killing Ella was something Chris desired to do himself.
By taking her life, Vin had cheated Chris of his revenge.
Now whenever they were together, it was like walking on eggshell. Neither had inkling as to how to repair this rift that was growing wider with each passing day and though Mary wanted to help make things right again, how could she do any of that when her own relationship with Chris was just as splintered? It broke her heart to see him holding her at arm's length and even Billy, when he was last home from school had noticed something wrong between his ma and Chris. How could she explain it to a child when she could not understand it herself?
And now, as if things could not deteriorate any further, she was going to be faced with a visit from Catherine.
The idea that her sister would soon be invading Four Corners and Catherine never seemed to visit a place as much as she invaded it, sent Mary into a state of turmoil. She did not wish her sister to see that she made a living running a newspaper, playing community leader on occasion and had no man in her life. It was hardly the kind of lifestyle that her very extravagant sister would find suitable. Of course, Catherine never ceased to tell Mary how disappointed she was that her younger sister had not 'married well' in her selection of Stephen as a husband.
To Catherine, the concept of marrying out of love was unimaginable.
Catherine, who married a Boston banker and lived in a sprawling mansion with servants and parties, who enjoyed the trimmings that came with being in high society, would no doubt find Mary's life in Four Corners dreary and demeaning in comparison. Mary regretted nothing about her life but she was not eager to have her older sister, who seemed to have the remarkable ability to make her feel small and ineffectual, take apart Mary's existence by her deep scrutiny.
Unfortunately, there was little Mary could do about it as she looked up finally from the offending piece of paper which had heralded the onset of this nightmare she could not prevent. The air in her office seemed stuffy and following this news, she definitely needed to occupy her time with some distraction. Thus, she opted to go about her day, since staring at the telegram was not going to change its contents or alter the fact that she was about to have a visitor in her home. Rising from her chair, Mary picked up the stack of newspapers that was the latest edition of the Clarion News and slipped out of her office.
Beyond the confines the Clarion News, it was a beautiful day in Four Corners. The heat was delicious against her skin and for an instant she stood outside her door allowing her face to feel its warm waves against her skin. When confronted with brilliant blue sky and glorious weather, it was easy to forget that the storm that was her sister would be blowing into town in less than a day. After lingering for a moment in the sunlight, she began her steps down the boardwalk, waving at the familiar faces she happened by.
She had just passed by Gloria Potter's store when she saw a rider making his way through town. Despite her effort not to look, Mary could not keep her eyes from drifting across the dirt road to rest upon the black-garbed gunslinger that was astride his dark gelding. Chris Larabee's piercing gaze rested upon Mary for but an instant but it was an instant that felt like an eternity to both. They stared at each other and it felt as if she were looking at him from across great chasm that neither could cross. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest, wishing he would offer her some scant trace of hope that things between them were not embers dying in the cold but there was nothing but that cold, hard stare which he broke away by facing front again.
Mary swallowed thickly, feeling her cheeks flush as she was filled with hurt at his indifference. She forced her eyes away from him and rebuked herself silently that she should not have expected any better. Hurrying away from the scene, Mary fled in an effort to salvage some measure of dignity. She was a fool, Mary told herself as she continued on her way, feeling worse than ever because not even her sister's arrival in Four Corners could rival the anguish of knowing that Chris Larabee might no longer care.
Buck Wilmington, who had witnessed the exchange beneath the awning of the jailhouse where he and Ezra were currently engaged in a game of checkers while Josiah's nose was firmly planted in a book, was not happy.
"How long is this going to go on?" Buck demanded of no one in particular.
"What exactly are you referring to?" Ezra Standish inquired, paying more attention to the game than Buck's statement.
"Chris and Mary," Buck retorted. "He's avoiding her like she was the plague."
"Mr. Wilmington." Ezra looked up at Buck as if he were an impatient child. "You are trespassing in forbidden waters."
"I don't care!" Buck declared exasperated, hating the whole mess that had developed since their final showdown with Ella Gaines. Putting the bitch down in the grave should have ended all this. Instead her death seemed to have caused more damage than any scheme of violence she might have committed in life. "It's insane. He doesn't even look at her and it's obvious that they care about each other."
"Chris has to deal with this on his own." Josiah raised his eyes from his book long enough to remark.
However, he did not add that he was just as concerned as Buck. If it had been anyone but Chris Larabee, Josiah would have already attempted to do something about it. Unfortunately, since it was Chris, who would not tolerate interference from anyone regarding his personal relationship with Mary, the preacher was just as powerless as Buck to do rectify the situation. "We can't tell him what to do or how to feel. His demons are his to deal with."
"Oh hell," Buck groaned, not all happy to let it go at that. He had known Chris longer than anyone and leaving it to the gunslinger to deal with the situation would mean nothing would ever change. Chris would ignore the situation until he drove Mary away for good. As someone who thought that Mary was the best thing to come into Chris' life since the death of his wife and son, Buck was not about to let the matter rest without at least trying to do something about it.
He liked Mary Travis and he respected the woman even more. Seeing her with such pain in her eyes, when Chris walked past her as if she were nothing to him, provoked Buck's self righteous streak and he was caught between wanting to knock Chris' teeth out or shake some sense into him, which ever came first.
"I mean it's not just how things have been with Mary, it's how he's been with Vin too," Buck continued with his tirade, his ire stoked into a proper fit of outrage.
If the situation between Mary and Chris was not bad enough already, what was transpiring between the gunslinger and the tracker was even worse. Although everything on the surface seemed at peace between Chris and Vin, the rest of the seven knew better. They were not blind to the rift that had been steadily increasing between the once constant companions after Ella Gaines' death.
Ever since Vin had taken the shot that killed Ella, Chris had been acting as if the tracker had done him some great disservice instead of saving his life. Once, the two men were inseparable but in recent weeks, they were seldom together unless the duty of being the town's protectors required them to be. While Chris seemed indifferent to the situation between himself and the bounty hunter, Vin's hurt was clear even though he did his best to hide it.
"Buck," Josiah sighed, trying to be a calming influence on the ladies' man, but that was no easy feat to do when he felt the same way. "I ain't happy about having my hands tied either but the good Lord helps those who helps themselves, Vin needs to talk to Chris about it. We can't do that for him, " Josiah sighed, wishing Buck could understand.
Josiah understood Buck's frustration and in truth, he was not entirely happy about Chris' treatment of Vin either. Of the seven, Vin had been the one to stand up for him when the investigator Silas Poplar believed he had murdered several women. Vin had openly defended him and was unshakeable in his belief that Josiah was innocence, a claim he did not believe the rest of the seven could make. Josiah hated being unable to return the favor because he knew standing up to Chris would avail them nothing and possibly worsen the situation.
"Right," Buck snorted in sarcasm. "He's about as closed mouth about it as Chris. I swear they were both tarred with the same brush."
"Stubborn," Josiah declared the unspoken thought in all their heads.
"What about you, Ezra?" Buck gazed at the gambler who had long since given up any hope of having any challenging play from his opponent in their game of checkers and had returned to the more routine practice of shuffling his favorite deck of cards.
"What about me, Mr. Wilmington?" Ezra looked up at him casually.
"Ain't you got an opinion on any of this?" Buck asked.
"No," Ezra said dispassionately. "I am firmly in agreement with Josiah on this point. Vin, Mary and Chris are adults and they should be allowed to handle the matter as adults, in private and at their own discretion."
"Meaning, we do nothing," Buck retorted, shaking his head in disgust, not merely at the situation but at the general opinion that nothing should be done, even if it was crying out for it.
"We can be there for them," Josiah added, knowing this would not appease Buck in the slightest but it was the only advice he had to give to the frustrated ladies' man.
"Josiah." Buck rose to his feet, deciding he needed a drink after this conversation. "We let things go the way they are and all we'll be there for is to pick up the pieces when it all goes to hell."
With that, he strode off the boardwalk, heading straight for the saloon and a little bit of Inez baiting.
"The man does get all fired up about things." Josiah sank in his chair after Buck had gone, wishing he had been able to help Buck, but short of mending things between Chris, Mary and Vin, there was nothing he could do.
"Well, he has a point," Ezra surprised him by saying.
Josiah stared at him in astonishment.
"I thought they were adults who should be allowed to handle the matter privately and at their own discretion?" The preacher reminded Ezra of his words with no small measure of accusation in his voice.
"I am not going to encourage Mr. Wilmington into doing something foolish. Knowing Buck as well as I do, he will attempt to handle the matter with all the subtlety of a raging Brahma bull in a china shop. This requires Machiavellian cunning to mend and unfortunately Buck is sorely lacking in that particular trait."
"And you're the one to do it?" Josiah tried to stifle a smile. While Ezra was becoming less mercenary by the day, his mind was always working on schemes. Fortunately, it appeared that not all of them were self-serving, even when he was attempting to be indifferent..
"I have not decided yet," Ezra replied. "This requires thought. After all, failure would mean having either Chris or Vin shoot me." He glanced over his shoulder at Josiah and was slightly alarmed when Josiah did not refute that statement.
"Actually I'd say both," Josiah grinned. "But by all means, go ahead. I can still perform last rites even if I'm not a practising member of the cloth any more."
"Thank you." Ezra gave him a look. "Your confidence is overwhelming."
"Morning, Miss Travis," Vin Tanner greeted the golden haired editor of the Clarion News, when he stepped out the bat wing doors of the Standish Tavern and saw the lady walking down the boardwalk towards him.
"Hello, Vin," Mary returned the salutation with warmth. "You just get back from patrol?" She asked casually.
"Yeah." Vin nodded. "It's pretty quiet out there. Hotter than hell though, needed a drink after all that."
"Hell has nothing on this place," she remarked with a little smile.
Vin could not disagree with her. As one who had traveled from one end of the Territory to the other, he knew just how hellish the place could be when it crept up on a man unexpectedly. While there was great beauty out in the wilderness that surrounded Four Corners, and a hundred other towns like it scattered throughout the region, that resplendent magnificence came at a price.
"Can't argue with you there," he drawled and reminded himself secretly that he had business with her he had been putting off for some time now. Ever since Ella's death actually.
An awkward silence followed as they stood before each other, both bound by the same man, both sharing the same hurt and neither with courage enough to speak of it. Still, Vin felt a kinship with the woman in their mutual difficulties with Chris Larabee, although it incensed Vin to no end that Chris was treating Mary the same way. He could understand the gunslinger being mad at him for Ella but Mary had done nothing to inspire his indifference. She had not pulled the trigger that cheated Chris out of his revenge, that had been Vin's doing and yet they were both suffering the consequences equally. It stabbed at the heart of Vin's sense of justice that she should be punished for something he did.
Mary looked into Vin's eyes and knew that he wanted to say something further but could not bring himself to utter the words out loud. She wondered if he wanted to speak to her about Chris but brushed the thought aside almost immediately. It was not in Vin's nature to be so forward about something that personal, even if he was directly involved in the events. His blue eyes showed his discomfort and Mary sought to spare him the effort by giving him a way out.
"I have to be going….," she started to say.
"Wait," he said suddenly, his too soft voice rising an octave. Swallowing thickly, he raised his eyes to her and decided to just say what was on his mind. "I wondered if we could start our reading lessons again."
The words caught Mary by surprise but it was by no means unpleasant. She had enjoyed helping Vin learn how to read after inadvertently stumbling upon the fact that he could not, some months ago. For someone who composed poems by memory alone, she was rather impressed by his literary ability and was eager to encourage him to learn how to read and write so he could put his words to paper. After the situation with Ella, the lessons had stopped because neither knew how to deal with Chris' ambivalence and had naturally shied away from one another in an effort to keep matters from worsening. However, it appeared their efforts were for nothing because Chris had turned away from them anyway, and thus there was no reason why they could not resume the lessons again.
"I think that would be a good idea," Mary smiled brightly, uncertain why this had the power to lessen the impact of all the unhappy things that had taken place today. Starting with Catherine's impending visit and her sighting of Chris on the street, where he had once again treated her as if she were a stranger, she had dreaded to see what else could happen today to make her life more miserable than it already was. Mary was glad to see that it was not all bad news. "Why don't you come over tonight for supper and we'll do it after."
Vin had not expected a dinner invitation but home cooking was not something he was likely to turn down. He still had the appetite of a teenager, Chris had told him, and Mary's culinary expertise was something he would not mind sampling.
"Sure," he answered, "tonight then."
"I'll be expecting you," Mary concluded. "I'll see you later, Vin."
Vin's response was a slight tilt of his hat before she was on her way again.
Only after she had gone, did he notice Chris Larabee standing in front of him where Mary had been. For a moment, neither said anything as intense gazes met across the boardwalk. Chris' expression seemed impassive, as if the exchange he had witnessed between Vin and Mary did not effect him in the slightest. The tracker for his part, looked back at Chris in defiance, daring him to make something of it. A fight would be something he could deal with, not this cold indifference.
"Vin," Chris acknowledge with the same tilt of his hat, his voice bearing that ever present disconnected tone. "Anything interesting out there?"
"Just a couple of wagons passing through heading east and some railroad men heading out to the line," Vin replied.
"Good." Chris nodded. "I got Watkins to Sweet Water all right. A federal Marshall is going to take him to Eagle Bend for trial."
"Least of what he deserves," Vin replied shortly.
The outlaw Watkins had murdered a family of homesteaders on the other side of Bitter Creek six months beforehand and had wandered into Four Corners, without the slightest inkling that every lawman from here to Kansas was hunting for him. Watkins was foolishly convinced his crime had gone undetected because of the remote location of the ranch where the murders were committed and the belief that he had left no one to tell the tale. Unfortunately, one of his victims had survived the massacre and was able to set every lawmen north of the border on his trail.
"I reckon," the gunslinger agreed.
They stared at each other in anticipation of something being said about Vin's exchange with Mary. The tracker almost wished Chris would express some annoyance or anger at the encounter but Chris did nothing of the kind. He merely trapped Vin with that powerful gaze, trying to dissect him to learn what he did not deign to ask. even though it was obvious to Vin anyway, that Chris was burning with curiosity. However, feeling it and showing it were two very different things and in that arena, Chris had no peer when it came to keeping a tight rein on his emotions.
"Well, I'll be seeing you." Chris started to move past the tracker when it appeared that Vin was not about to be forthcoming with his supper engagement with Mary.
"Chris," Vin found himself saying before he could stop himself. "What's going on here?'
Chris stared at him with almost black eyes revealing nothing. "Nothing as far I can see. Is something going on with you?" His gaze bore into Vin mercilessly.
"Maybe its time I got a move on, Chris," Vin sighed. He did not know whether it was because he truly felt this way or because he was angry and wanted to provoke some kind of a response from the friend he had trusted above all others. The one who now looked at him with a stranger's eyes. "That bounty is still hanging over my head. It won't be too long before someone comes looking for me."
There was a slight flicker in the gunslinger's face at the mention of Vin's departure. A little crack formed briefly in the granite hard exterior that he had been projecting these past few weeks.
"You're safer here then out there," Chris managed to say but knew instinctively it was not enough.
"Am I?" Vin glared at him. "Am I really? There ain't no place anywhere that's really safe, Chris. Not here, not out there. You can think that you know everything about a place and about a person and come away knowing nothing at all."
Leaving Chris to ponder those words, Vin Tanner strode away from the gunslinger wondering if it was better if he had just let Ella kill him because in the long run, it appeared Vin had lost his friend anyway.
Chris watched Vin make his way across the street towards the livery and guessed that the tracker was probably going to take a ride out of town. Whenever Vin was bothered about anything, he usually tried to put as much distance between himself and Four Corners as possible. There was too much noise to think, as Vin would put it succinctly during such occasions. A well of regret sprung up inside him at their exchange and the knowledge that Vin was driven to make this decision because Chris had given him no other choice bothered the gunslinger greatly. Vin had too much dignity to remain where he did not think he was wanted. Even though as far as Chris was concerned, it could not be farther from the truth.
Chris just could not bring himself to say it.
He knew he was being unfair. He was not so arrogant that he could not see that. Vin had saved his life when he pulled the trigger. However, knowing that did not change how he felt and how he felt was cheated. It was his family that Ella had murdered! His wife and child whose bodies he was forced to remove from the charred remnants of their home. He had remembered what they looked like when he pulled them out of the fire. Chris was not even spared that. When he found out that Ella was responsible for their deaths, the one thing that had made their senseless deaths tolerable was the fact that one day, he would avenge them.
When Vin pulled the trigger, he had taken that away from Chris and now the gunslinger felt rudderless, as if he had left something undone and would never be able to find closure because he did not have the chance to end things with Ella himself. As Chris stepped into the saloon, once again needing that drink more and more often these days, he could not deny that he felt disconnected from his life. The kinship that he had shared with Vin for so long was almost a memory and as much as he mourned it, he could not bring himself to repair the ever-thinning threads that bound them.
And then there was Mary.
Mary, whom he could not even bring himself to look at these days because the pain was too acute. He stared at her and saw all the things he had lost when Ella took Sarah and Adam away. Mary had endured much because she cared for him and Chris was fast reaching the conclusion that perhaps it was better if her life continued without him. She would be so much safer with someone else, someone respectable. However, not even Chris could dream that the someone else might be Vin. When he had seen them together, he had thought nothing of it. Why should he? Mary was always friendly when it came to the seven, ever since they first took up the protection of the town. But then he heard her mention supper and suddenly that implications took on an entirely different light.
The idea of Mary and Vin left a bitter taste in his mouth he could not abide. It could not possibly be true! Then again, his actions of late had cemented the possibility that Mary might be done waiting for him and certainly she could do worse than Vin. Chris told himself that he was leaping to conclusions, that they were two friends that were sharing supper together. It was perfectly innocent. Only his natural suspicion assumed that there had to be more to it than just that. Yet the more he thought about it, the more doubt set into his mind and there was this nagging possibility that he might be deluding himself.
Suddenly, Chris really needed that drink.
Upon entering the saloon, he made a beeline for the bar. Those who were accustomed to the gunslinger frequenting the establishment knew that this was usually a good sign to keep out of his way. Chris Larabee's temperament was almost as legendary as the Magnificent Seven's role in Four Corners. He pulled himself a stool, wearing an expression on his face that clearly indicated that anyone who was thinking of approaching him ought to reconsider for their own sake. Once he was seated, he searched for Inez, the sultry Mexican barmaid and manager of the Standish Tavern.
"What can I get you, Senor?" She asked, flashing him that dazzling smile that could reduce Buck to a lovesick teenager faster than a coyote with its tail on fire.
"Whiskey," Chris said shortly.
She disappeared briefly, returning a moment a later with a bottle and a shot glass.
"One whiskey coming right up," she replied filling the glass and was about to retreat with the bottle when Chris stopped her.
"Leave the bottle," he ordered.
Her brow arched and she gazed at him for a second, her disapproval clearly showing on her face before she responded, "you'll kill yourself drinking like that, Senor."
Chris raised his eyes to her before uttering with a cool smile, "there are worse ways to die."
The Concord rolled into town shortly after midday and for Mary, its arrival garnered mixed feelings. On some level, she looked forward to seeing Catherine because it had been almost ten years since they had last seen each other. On the other hand, Mary was reminded of all the reasons why Catherine's visit was going to be an ordeal. Overhead, the sun was shining on another glorious day. As Mary waited in front of the stage depot for the carriage to make its arrival, she supposed that at least the weather would give Catherine no reason to complain since everything else would.
Scanning the street as she lingered on the boardwalk for the stage's arrival, Mary caught a glimpse of Vin Tanner seated in front of the jailhouse and offered him a little smile. The shy tracker nodded in acknowledgment with a return smile and Mary was reminded of what pleasant company he could be once one got past the persona of the hardened bounty hunter and sharpshooter.
It was not easy to know Vin, she had come to learn since becoming his tutor. He was painfully shy for someone who could face off with Chris Larabee. Mary was not certain that anyone else in the seven could do that, not even Buck. Yet when he was in her company, he seemed nervous and uncertain of himself. He was, however, a fast learner and Mary wondered what he might have accomplished if he had been given the benefits of a proper education. There was a poet at the heart of him, a poet that was beaten down by life and years of hardship. Mary hoped that helping him to read and write would release that side of him.
Her gaze shifted from the handsome tracker when she saw the stagecoach rumbling up the main street of Four Corners. Her relaxed thoughts about Vin soon diminished at the sight of the Concord's appearance, and Mary braced herself to deal with her sister, whom she affectionately called, though never to her face, Catherine the Great.
The stage came to a halt, kicking up dust and gravel as the horses pulling it signaled their arrival with a decisive snort in tandem with the driver's call for them to stop when he pulled upon the reins. Mary tried to peer through the windows of the coach, to catch sight of Catherine as the stage coach driver disembarked the carriage and opened the door for his passengers to alight. Mary sucked in her breath with anticipation, wondering how it was that Catherine could erase the years of growth and experience and leave her a frightened young girl again, just by mere possibility of her presence.
Faces she did not recognize climbed out of the carriage, some assisted by the driver, some not. However, when a gloved hand accepted the man's hand and put an expensive boot on the running board, Mary knew that her moment of truth had arrived.
"Catherine!" Mary called out, catching her sister's attention the moment the woman stepped into the sunlight.
Catherine the Great or in her usual sobriquet, Catherine Harrington, wife of Boston banker, Wendell Harrington, was dressed tastefully as she emerged from the stagecoach, tastefully even though the dress on her back could have quite happily fed a family of five for a week. Her flaxen colored hair was worn under a hat while powerful green eyes fixed upon her sister with genuine pleasure. She was adorned in jewellery but as expected of Boston society, her wealth was an expression in understatement.
"Mary!" Catherine exclaimed happily as both sisters met in a warm hug and suddenly, the years apart did not seem so long. "How have you been?"
"I've been well and you look even better," Mary declared as she noted how kind the years had been to Catherine. Her sister looked very prosperous although Mary had expected her to be nothing else. Catherine was if anything, capable of landing on her feet no matter what the calamity to befall her.
"I look glamorous," Catherine replied flamboyantly, "but I'm older unfortunately."
"You look wonderful," Mary sighed and remembered that when she was a little girl, she would live in awe at her older sister. While she was no longer as overwhelmed by how Catherine always seemed to do everything better, in looks and in life, Mary could not help feeling a little tinge of longing considering what shambles her own existence was at the moment.
"And you look a true product of the frontier," Catherine retorted, her gaze shifting up and down Mary in quick evaluation. "I never thought you would last a year out in this wilderness but I must say, I'm impressed. You really have managed to survive in this place."
"It's my home, Cathy," Mary sighed, deciding to take the compliment in the spirit it was given even if it did somewhat slight the town which she had invested so much time and effort into progressing.
"I know it is," Catherine said gently, aware that her effort to sound supportive had come out wrong. Mary could be so sensitive about such things. "I mean to say that you are tougher than I gave you credit for. Heaven knows I would never have managed to endure this."
Mary could not argue with that. The notion of Catherine enduring the uncertain existence in the heart of the Territory, when she was a creature who thrived in opulent surroundings and the jockeying for position in elite circles, was rather laughable. Mary had never been able to endure it even when she still lived in Boston and thanked Stephen every day of their married life for saving her from that horrible fate by choosing her as his wife.
"Oh, you would have managed it just fine," Mary shrugged, not wishing to agree with her sister who was apparently trying to be nice.
"I doubt that," Catherine said dubiously.
"How was the trip?" Mary asked, propelling them past the awkward moment as she noted the luggage being removed from the top of the carriage. The other passengers on board were already retrieving their own bags and Mary supposed that it was probably a good idea if they did the same, though knowing Catherine, half the assemblage of luggage before them was probably hers.
"Well, the train trip was perfectly marvelous," Catherine remarked as they waited for one or two of the other passengers to collect their things. "The stage coach ride was rather bumpy but you do have some lovely country out here. I cannot believe how warm it is. Not at all like Boston."
"It does get very hot around here," Mary remarked as she swept her gaze across the dust blown town. Mary wondered whether Catherine knew that the differences between Boston and the Territory set them almost a world apart.
"Yes," Catherine agreed, though not with the same appreciation as she swept her gaze across Four Corners and its small town provinciality.
"Hey there, Miss Travis," Buck Wilmington announced himself, having decided to come investigate when he noticed Mary Travis from across the street in the presence of a most ravishing companion. It was with a great source of personal pride for Buck to ensure he knew every eligible female in town (even the not so eligible ones) especially if they were great beauties. When he had seen Mary and Catherine, he was compelled to come introduce himself, dragging JD and Ezra with him.
"Hello Buck," Mary stifled a smile wondering if Buck had some special sense that told him whenever a new woman had arrived in town. "Ezra, JD," she greeted in kind.
"And who might you be?" Buck asked closing in on Catherine oozing charm as he smiled at her.
"Catherine Harrington," Catherine answered with a bemused smile, extending a gloved hand towards the lawman who immediately took it and performed the continental greeting.
"Catherine's my sister," Mary explained. "She's visiting from Boston."
"Your sister?" Ezra Standish said with some measure of surprise as he gazed about the woman. It was hard to picture Mary having a sister that seemed to have stepped out of the society pages of a newspaper.
"Well, that don't surprise me none," Buck declared, his eyes still fixed on Catherine who was finding his attention very amusing if nothing else. "They're both very beautiful women."
Mary chuckled as she saw Ezra roll his eyes in resignation.
"Catherine," Mary turned to her sister, feeling the need to explain her relationship to these men. "This is Buck Wilmington, Ezra Standish and JD Dunne. They're the town's peacekeepers."
"Policemen?" Catherine's brow arched sharply, unable to imagine any of them in the role, especially the one with the fine taste in clothes.
"Nah, nothing like that, ma'am," JD spoke, understanding that she would make that comparison since he was from the east himself. "We're like deputies."
"How very 'Wyatt Earp'," Catherine remarked. "Well gentlemen, I look forward to seeing you around."
"We'll give you a hand with these bags, Mary," Buck offered, noting the luggage left behind now that the others passengers had gone on their way.
"We'd appreciate it," Mary replied, not about to refuse their help.
"So, Miss Harrington," Ezra turned to the lady as Buck and JD went to collect her bags. "How long are you intending to grace Four Corners with your presence?"
"I am not certain at this point," Catherine replied offering her answer not only to Ezra, but also to Mary. "At this time, I would say indefinitely."
"Does Wendell mind you coming so far out west?" Mary asked for the first time, remembering that Catherine's oh so proper husband would clearly have misgivings about his wife travelling so far from Boston, especially to such a dangerous place as the Territory.
"Of course not," Catherine answered breezily. "As long as I return before the social season starts, he is quite happy to let me do whatever I please with my time."
"I never thought he was that accommodating," Mary shrugged. What she had seen of her brother in law seemed to indicate that the man was rather priggish but then Catherine always did have the ability to twist him around her little finger.
Ezra said nothing as he observed the new arrival, sensing that there was more to her explanation than just that but he kept his opinions to himself. He was, however, rather intrigued by Mary's sibling because for once Ezra found that he had to agree with Buck, she was a great beauty. Even if she was hiding something from her sister.
Once the bags were collected, Mary led her sister and her unexpected entourage towards the office of the Clarion News. All the while, listening to Buck make his not so subtle attempts to charm the lady, despite the fact that she was clearly married. Mary could not deny that it was good to have Buck, JD and Ezra around as they made her way home. After almost a decade apart, Mary still had difficulty dealing with Catherine alone and she was not eager to endure the ordeal of having Catherine pick apart her life in a bid to force Mary to move back to Boston.
They were almost to the Clarion offices when suddenly, Mary caught sight of Chris stepping out of Gloria Potter's store. She cursed inwardly, having no desire to see him right now. She did not want to explain to Catherine what was between them, or rather, what was not.
It would have surprised Mary to learn that Chris had actually seen her first. He had been in the Potter store purchasing supplies for his shack and was on his way out when he saw the widow with Buck, Ezra and JD, accompanied by a female he did not recognize. It struck him almost immediately that they were family because, as Chris observed Mary's friend, he noted that the shape of the face was the same as was the color of her alabaster skin and white gold hair.
He wished he could have retreated into the store without being seen because he did not want another meeting with her on the street like the other day. However, that was not possible when he saw Mary's eyes catch sight of him and if she did, it was a sure bet that the others had as well. Facing Mary in front of his friends, in particular Buck, was not something he was going to enjoy but short of darting across the street like a frightened deer, he had little choice. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he was Chris Larabee and he was not afraid of anything, not even Mary Travis. After all, it was clear that she had moved on with her life and why should he care if she had found solace in the arms of his best friend?
It was hard to convince himself of this when he cared a lot.
"Hey Chris!" Buck Wilmington called out in his ongoing crusade to bring Mary and Chris together.
Chris sucked in his breath, hiding all his conflicting emotions behind an impassive mask as he approached them outside the Potter store. He might as well get this ordeal over and done with, he thought silently to himself.
"Buck," he replied and nodded briefly at all those present, his eyes carefully avoiding Mary's, despite the greeting.
"We were just escorting Mary and her sister back to the Clarion," Ezra cut in impatiently, perfectly aware of what Buck was trying to do. The gambler was certain that if the big man did not get himself shot for his trouble, he would succeed in putting their leader in a fouler mood than he was already.
"Sister?" Chris turned his high powered gaze to Mary's lovely companion.
"This is my sister Catherine," Mary introduced them stiffly. "Cathy, this is Mr. Larabee, he's one of the town's lawmen."
"I wouldn't quite put it that way," Chris quickly interjected and noted the frown coming from Buck's direction at his aloof manner. However, the gunslinger ignored it even though both Ezra and JD appeared just as uncomfortable about this whole meeting as he.
"Yes, I am visiting from Boston. I thought I'd just come and see how my little sister is doing." Catherine smiled enchantingly, studying him very closely in light of the curious elements of Mary's reaction to seeing him, and in turn, to this intense gunslinger's own reluctance to meet sister' gaze.
"We told her Mary's doing fine and all," JD blurted out. "I mean what with being a newspaper editor, a mom, not to mention all that statehood stuff."
"Thank you, JD." Mary flashed him a little smile, never realizing the boy thought she was so accomplished but her gaze soon returned to Chris who seemed terribly uncomfortable about the whole encounter and appeared as if he wished nothing more than to be away from them.
"Yes, your men have been quite informative," Catherine commented. "I had no idea there was so much to do in a small town."
"It's a rough place," Chris remarked. "There's always something to do and some ways to get into trouble."
"Well, I'm glad that you and your friends are on the job protecting us," Catherine remarked deciding to test the waters a little because her instincts told her that there was something going on between her sister and this black garbed gunslinger. "I would hate to think of Mary all alone in this place when it is so dangerous."
"I am not alone," Mary quickly interjected. "Billy comes home when school's out and Orin visits all the time."
"That's not what I meant," Catherine said smoothly. "Stephen's been dead for some years now, I thought for certain that you would at least have a man in your life by now. I mean, it must be essential to live in a place like this."
Mary felt her jaw drop in embarrassment and her face became flushed with color. "Catherine, this is not the time to discuss my personal life."
"Or lack of one," Catherine turned to Chris who said nothing except stare at her with that piercing gaze, trying to dissect her and her intentions.
"Oh Catherine!" Mary exclaimed in disgust. "If you want to continue this conversation, fine! I'm going to the house to get your room ready. Gentlemen, if you could please escort my sister to my office, I would be grateful."
With that, Mary stormed away fuming. Ezra was rubbing the bridge of his nose, JD looked as if he wished he could be anywhere else and Buck was letting out a heavy sigh in defeat.
"I'll see you boys later, ma'am," Chris said vaguely before going about his way in the opposite direction.
Catherine stood in the aftermath of this maelstrom looking quite pleased with herself and what she had managed to uncover. Meeting their gazes after a moment, a slow smile crept across her face and she remarked coolly. "Now that was interesting."
"That's one way to put it," Buck said glumly in the aftermath of Catherine's words and its effect on both parties.
"So I gather that Mary has not been languishing in an emotional void since Stephen's passing?" Catherine turned her gaze upon him.
"They do like each other," Buck grumbled, irritated enough to make the disclosure.
"It is a long story," Ezra spoke up, not willing to say too much.
Unfortunately, Catherine had other ideas on the matter. "Well," she sighed looking in the direction that Mary had gone, "if I know my sister's ability to stay angry, I do believe I have the time."
Deciding it was probably best to let her sister calm down, Catherine took up Buck and JD's offer to deliver her luggage to Mary's while Ezra agreed to show her around town. There really was not really much to see and by the time she had reached the scenic vista of the granary, Ezra guessed that she had seen as much of Four Corners as she wanted to. She did not ask Ezra to tell her about the relationship between Mary and Chris, although the gambler sensed that the questions were coming.
Ezra found Catherine to be a world of difference from her sister. While Mary seemed to have a proud noble streak, Catherine, on the other hand, was not so idealistic. For one who lived at the very pinnacle of the social elite in Boston, Catherine had a surprising understanding of how the seamier side of life seemed to work. Despite himself, Ezra found himself warming greatly to the woman.
"So how long has Mary had this relationship with Mr Larabee?" Catherine asked once they had retired from sightseeing to enjoy a brief sojourn in the hotel restaurant.
"I am not at liberty to say," Ezra answered politely, not about to meddle in Chris Larabee's affairs. He had no monumental death wish to risk his life in such a venture.
"Mr Standish." Catherine sat up in her chair, her tone changing from that of the genteel society matron to that of a determined and fiercely protective sister, a role that Ezra did not quite expect her to pay. "Even since her husband died, my sister's letters home to us have been almost pedestrian. We know that she continues to remain here even though from all accounts this is a terribly dangerous place for her to be. She writes to us as if we are strangers and I cannot deny that we were never supportive of her marriage to Stephen but he was a good man and I know how it would have affected her to lose him. In the last few months her letters have been almost obligatory and any inquiries made about her personal life have been politely ignored. I came here to see if she is all right and I find that once again, her heart is being worn on her sleeve. Now I would rather spare Mary the indignity of asking her neighbors what is going between her and Mr. Larabee but if you do not tell me, I will do just that."
Ezra let out a deep sign realising that he had little choice in the matter and something in the way this woman was making the demand, made him think that telling her might not be a terrible thing. Besides, the romantic in him wanted to see things work out between Chris and Mary, though he would die first before he admitted that openly. After a momentary pause, Ezra began a narration of events leading up to the encounter on the street. He spoke long and earnestly, never offering his own opinion, just an unbiased view of what had taken place.
When he was done, there was a lengthy pause between the two of them and Ezra took the time study Catherine and wondered if her husband truly appreciated the Machavellian gleam in her eye. He hoped he was not making a big mistake by telling her everything but somehow his instincts told him that he had not.
"It is always the same with her." Catherine shook her head. "Ever since we were children."
"This situation is hardly Mary's fault," Ezra pointed out coming to Mary's defense. "If anything, its Mr Larabee's."
"Mr Larabee is a man," Catherine snorted. "They can't help the way they behave."
"I think I should be offended." Ezra gave her a look.
Catherine smiled radiantly at him. "You are a man but fortunately, you seem to have some sense about you, but I am speaking of the kind that Mr Larabee is and they are terribly predictable, so predictable I might add that Mary ought to know better by now."
Ezra was starting to get confused. "I do not follow you."
"You would think a woman who has been married and has produced a child would know how to handle a man by now, even one as ornery as Mr. Larabee," Catherine remarked as if this was information that everyone but Mary was privy too.
As Ezra listened, he was starting to feel somewhat in the dark himself. "Mr Larabee is one of those who strikes me as being truly content if he feels truly miserable. He will not allow himself to be happy if there is reason enough for him to maintain his brooding manner. I suppose there is a small grain of truth in his withdrawal from Mary being some need to protect her. But I am more inclined to believe that it is probably safer for him if he keep her at arms' length."
The observation was astute and, as far as Ezra was concerned, more or less akin to his own thoughts on the matter. He believed the same thing if Chris' behavior, since Vin had taken supper with Mary, was any indication regarding the extent of his feelings.
"He is having a little trouble in that arena," Ezra remarked sipping his coffee. "The possibility that Mary might be turning her affections towards Mr. Tanner has certainly soured his mood of late."
"Like I said," Catherine declared, "predictable. It's all well and good when he does not want her but the minute someone else pays attention, well then suddenly, he's like a dog staking claim on a bone."
"That's a frightfully appalling description." Ezra winced at the imagery of Mary being likened to a bone.
"It is true though," she pointed out. "However, I know my sister. She doesn't fall for anyone easily. Even as children, she could carry a torch for a boy until the cows came home and never say a word. She and Stephen were made for each other since they were so frightfully sentimental."
"And you're not?" Ezra turned an eye on her.
"Marriage is an institution," Catherine retorted haughtily. "I prefer it to be a financially rewarding one."
"I do love the way you think." Ezra found himself grinning.
For a brief instant, the two stared at each other and it was not lost upon Ezra that he liked this woman more than he should. A slight tinge of colour flooded her cheeks as their eyes held before Catherine broke away, forcing herself to return to the reality of the moment instead of the uncharted territory they had found themselves entering for a few seconds. Ezra dropped his gaze to the cup before him, wondering what he was possibly thinking, involving himself with a married woman who just happened to be Mary Travis' sister.
"This cannot go on," Catherine finally declared, propelling them past the moment. "I am going to have to do something."
"Do something?" Ezra stared at her with surprise. "Like what?"
"Fix this situation obviously." She stared at him as if he were a simpleton. "Honestly, Mr. Standish, I thought we had covered this already."
"We were merely discussing the situation, repairing it is another thing entirely," he returned smoothly.
"Come on, Ezra." She leaned forward, a perfectly devilish gleam in her eye. "Are you telling me you are afraid?"
"Of Chris, no. Of being shot, yes," the gambler quipped.
"I promise there will be no blood letting," she assured him. "I do need your help however. I do not know this town or all the players in this little drama, you, however, do."
"Why do I have a feeling I am going to regret this?" Ezra sighed as he felt himself being drawn involuntarily into the web she was starting to weave.
Catherine would only smile at him, "trust me."
By the time Catherine was finally shown to the offices of the Clarion News, where Mary both lived and maintained her livelihood, the editor of the Clarion News was somewhat calmer than when Catherine had last seen her. In truth, Mary felt somewhat embarrassed by her outburst and wished only to forget about the whole incident. Besides, what could she expect from Catherine? Her sister had made it an art of embarrassing her throughout most of her life. Mary could not see why things should suddenly change now. Most of Mary's ire had to do with the fact that Catherine had found it so easy to see what lay between her and Chris. Her sister always had the unfailing ability to see through her, not to mention meddle and Mary shuddered with anxiety at what Catherine might be planning after what she had seen.
"Where were you?" Mary asked as Catherine entered the office. She had been waiting for most of the afternoon for her sister to appear and would have been concerned if not for the fact that she knew Ezra Standish to be a trustworthy escort and that it was probably best that Catherine made herself scarce while Mary calmed down.
"Mr. Standish was good enough to show me around town," Catherine said as she lowered herself into a chair in front of Mary's desk. "I thought that after my faux pas earlier, it was best that I stayed out of your way for a time. He was very good company."
"You didn't have to do that," Mary replied, feeling even worse about her outburst now in light of that revelation.
"Yes, I did," Catherine reached across the desk and took Mary's hand in hers. "I did not mean to intrude in your private affairs, though I hoped you could confide in me at what is going on between you and Mr. Larabee. It's plain to see how he feels about you."
"Is it?" Mary almost snorted in derision. "I can't see it."
"Only because you are too close to him to notice," Catherine pointed out gently. "Is the feeling mutual?"
Mary hesitated to respond because she had never really confided in anyone regarding her feelings about Chris Larabee. The closest she had come to confiding in anyone about how she felt was with Inez and even then, she had never really come out and admitted it because Inez suspected enough to spare her the difficulty of saying it. She had kept her feelings about Chris so deeply buried because, for a long time, she had believed nothing would ever come from it except heartache. Only in the last year had she dared to hope that there could be more but it appeared she was wrong once again and the pain was like a gash in her heart that would not heal. As she met Catherine's gaze, Mary realised that her sister could see it and there was little point in hiding anything from Catherine.
In the end, Catherine the Great would always get the truth out of her.
"Yes," she spoke, her voice escaping in a soft whisper. She had been holding onto that for so long that, admitting it at long last, was like a weight off her chest.
"Now we are getting somewhere," Catherine replied. "You pick the most complicated men for your relationships, don't you?" She sighed.
"I like the challenge." Mary cracked a smile. "Although, I think this time I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I keep thinking that there is a future for us, but each time we come close to being more than we are, he finds a reason to keep me at arm's length. I don't know whether I can take the disappointment any longer."
"Maybe you shouldn't, Mary," Catherine declared. "There comes a point when you just have to accept that it's not going to happen. I know he is certainly very attractive, a woman would have to be dead not to notice that about him, but he strikes me as being difficult. If there is someone else who can give you what he can't, you owe it to yourself to find happiness."
"Meaning what?" Mary stared at her sister in confusion. "What someone else?"
"From what Ezra tells me, you and some tracker named Vin Tanner have been quite the center of gossip lately."
"Gossip?" Mary exclaimed aghast. "He had supper with me once! And only because he needed my help with some private matter that was perfectly innocent. There is no gossip."
"I hear he is very nice," Catherine pointed out.
"Vin's sweet but he's not Chris," Mary retorted. She wondered if Catherine had been sent here to drive her insane. The very suggestion that she and Vin were more than just friends was laughable! Whatever would Chris think? However, even as she thought it, a streak of defiance surfaced inside Mary, which posed the even more challenging question. Why should she care what he thought? He had made it plain that things were over between them, without even consulting her about it! Why should she feel self conscious about Vin?
"Oh," Catherine said softly, her expression crestfallen and something about the glimmer in her eyes made Mary very nervous.
"What?" Mary asked suspiciously, narrowing her gaze at her sister to ferret out what calamity Catherine had seen fit to visit upon her now.
"I invited him for supper," Catherine said gingerly.
"You've been here less than a day and you've invited him for supper?" Mary stared at her incredulously.
"Thanks to Mr. Standish, I encountered him on the street and when I heard that he might be your new paramour, I took the liberty of inviting him for dinner tomorrow night," Catherine answered nervously. In truth, she had seen the tracker only briefly and sent Ezra to make the invitation on Mary's behalf instead of hers. She did not doubt that the young man, (who was surprisingly handsome if somewhat scruffy), would take up the invitation since his friendship with Mary, according to Ezra, was something he valued greatly.
"He is not my paramour!" Mary exclaimed in frustration. "He is a friend!"
"All right then," Catherine replied. "I will just tell Mr. Standish to rescind the invitation."
"You will do nothing of the kind!" Mary almost barked. "I will not hurt Vin's feelings by making him think he is unwanted but no more, Catherine, I mean it. Things are crazy enough between Chris and me for this gossip with Vin to make things worse."
Catherine did not answer but she thought silently to herself.
You don't know the half of it yet.
Ezra wondered how he got roped into this.
While he was more than supportive of any plan that saw Chris and Mary reconciled, he had never considered getting involved directly. If he had interfered at all, it would have been to offer some advice or something subtle, (that would not get him shot), to Vin regarding the rift that had formed between himself and Chris over the affair of Ella Gaines. Now, thanks to Mary's somewhat spirited, and might he add, devious sister, he was going to be playing a little game of ball with his friends. He coined the word 'ball' because before this was over, everyone was going to be bouncing against each other in what could only be considered a Shakespearean farce.
Just call him Puck.
Within the confines of the Standish Tavern, the establishment was already starting to fill with the onset of evening. Inez was holding court behind bar, both serving and supervising the other barmaids that were sweeping across the floor, taking care of customers. The defenders of Four Corners, except Chris, were congregated around their usual table. Chris was finding more and more reasons to ride out to his shack lately, ever since Ella had met her end. Although he did not shirk his responsibilities to Four Corners, he seemed to wish solitude more than anything. Ezra tended to think it was so he could perfect his brooding skills and started to believe that Catherine might be right, that Chris was not happy unless he was feeling miserable.
The mood among the group was sedate and, though they were having a good time in each other's company, it was clear that there was a pall over the loss of one in their number. Vin tried not to look self-conscious but in trying, he just seemed to stand out more. The tracker's blue eyes seemed deep in thought and no one at the table had any doubt that he was thinking about Chris and the downturn their friendship had taken ever since he had killed Ella. Ezra debated briefly, whether or not he ought to be meddling like this but he was convinced that if Chris could be made to see sense about Mary, it might just be the impetus needed for him to reach the same with Vin as well.
In any case, this was as good a time as any for him to carry out his part in Catherine's plan.
"Tell me, Mr. Tanner, how was dinner with Mary?" Ezra asked in a perfectly innocent voice, devoid of innuendo of any kind.
Vin shifted uncomfortably in his chair, clearly disliking the question because he did not wish anyone to know that the widow was giving him reading lesson. "Fine," he said in a clipped tone, hoping Ezra got the picture that he did not wish to discuss this any further.
"Yeah, how come you're having dinner with Mary, Vin?" JD asked, reacting in exactly the way that Ezra had anticipated one of the seven would have regarding the subject.
"I don't know," Vin muttered, his mood souring by the minute. "She asked me, so I went."
"She must have found you pleasing company," Ezra drawled. "After all, you are joining her tomorrow night."
While Buck was aware of Vin sharing supper with Mary Travis the night before, he had been completely taken by surprise by this latest invitation. The ladies' man stared at the young tracker, wondering what exactly was going on with him and Mary. Buck's mind was 'trying to avoid the most obvious answer because of what it would do to Chris if the gunslinger were to find out that his best friend and the woman he loved were turning to each other.
"Its just dinner," Vin replied, trying to fight the embarrassment that was starting to show on his face and failing. He had no idea why the second invitation had been made and the possibility of Mary starting to develop feelings for him frightened the hell out of him. However, it could be that she simply wanted the company and, considering how Chris had been treating her, it was not unreasonable for her to ask him since they got along well, though not that well.
"I don't recall Mary asking me to dinner two nights in one week," Buck retorted suspiciously.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Buck," Nathan spoke up for the first time. The healer had known Mary the longest. Nathan had unshakeable faith in the woman's nature to know that there was nothing ulterior in her motives for inviting Vin to supper. Considering that they were both in emotional exile from Chris Larabee, it was almost logical that they should share some form of kinship.
"Well said," Josiah rumbled, seeing how uncomfortable Vin was becoming with this whole discussion. Personally, Josiah did not see anything wrong with Vin sharing supper at Mary's table and even if there was something between them, it was Chris' fault for allowing it too happen.
"It ain't right though," Buck stated, not about to let the matter rest. "I mean Chris maybe a right bastard when he wants to be and sure he probably deserves it if Mary decides to finish things with him but it shouldn't be to start up with you!'
"FOR THE LAST TIME!" Vin stood up, fairly roaring in fury, displaying a very uncharacteristic display of wrath as he glared at the big man and spoke in a much lower voice, full of menace, "there is nothing going on between me and Mary. We're friends!"
"Then how come she's only inviting you to dinner?" Buck challenged, not about to let the matter rest when all he could see coming from this was disaster. Chris would never forgive Vin if he and Mary got together and that would destroy not only their friendship but would splinter the bond between the seven irrevocably.
Vin drew a long, deep breath to calm his intense need to strangle Buck and rid him of this ridiculous notion of impropriety between himself and Mary. He was willing to tell everyone the truth since it would quash such speculation immediately but Vin was not yet at the point where he was willing to tell everyone his shameful secret. He could not believe the compromising position he now found himself because of one invitation to supper. Okay, two invitations to supper, he reminded himself. As it was, he could not fathom why the second invitation had been issued. Mary had said nothing about it when they finished his lessons for the night, other than to make another appointment in a week's time. If she wanted him to share supper with her again, why had she not asked him then? Why on earth did she have to ask Ezra to do it?
"I think she wanted Vin to meet her sister," Ezra offered before Vin did anything rash, like use his sawn off Winchester to do the talking.
"Really?" Vin turned to him in surprise because it was as much a surprise to him as it was to anyone else. "Why?"
"She might like scruffy buffalo hunters," JD quipped and instantly received a stern glare from Josiah, who did not think this was the time for such remarks.
"Watch who you're calling scruffy, short stuff," Vin bit back.
"I ain't short," JD returned defensively.
"No, you're under tall," Nathan added, trying to inject some levity into the moment because this conversation was becoming all too explosive for his liking.
"Actually, I think Catherine was sort of interested in seeing the country around here," Ezra spoke up, glad to see his ability to make things up as he went had not been dulled since his arrival in Four Corners. If anything, Catherine's little play was allowing him to exert his con man skills beautifully. "I think you might end up being a guide."
"I don't know." Vin lowered himself into his chair and stared at the gambler dubiously, "I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean I'd be glad to help Mary's sister and all but it ain't proper for me to be escorting a lady like her around the Territory."
"I think you will find that you will most likely be escorting the both of them," Ezra replied. "Mary is even more concerned about propriety than you, Vin. I doubt she'd allow her married sister to go anywhere with you alone."
"You know what they say about them rich society ladies, Vin." Buck grinned, successfully convinced now that there was nothing going on between Vin and Mary.
"Do I even want to know?" Josiah stared at the younger man, his face preparing to slip into grimace at any moment.
"I'll bet she's probably just waiting for some scruffy buffalo hunter to tame her." Buck winked.
"How do you manage to get the women you do with lines like that?" Ezra asked, genuinely mystified.
"Do you really want to know?" Buck leaned closer. "It's got to do with the size of ….."
"NEVERMIND!" Five voices barked in surprising harmony and silenced the ladies' man before he could finish the sentence.
Buck eased back into his chair and grinned triumphantly, "you asked."
When Chris Larabee rode into town the day after Vin's second dinner engagement with Mary Travis, he could not deny feeling less than neighborly towards the tracker. The first invitation was enough to rouse his suspicion about what lay between the woman he loved and his best friend, a suspicion he had been quick to dispel because he refused to believe that either would betray him with a love affair right under his very nose. No matter how badly he behaved, he knew both Vin and Mary well enough to know that they were the most loyal people he knew and they would never willingly be party to deceiving him. Even though the supper invitation had bothered him more than he would like to admit, Chris had given them both the benefit of the doubt.
Until he learned about the second invitation.
Chris could not understand why Mary would invite Vin again so soon. She had never shown any interest in Vin other than in the name of friendship. The impression one got when seeing them together was a feeling of sisterly affection, not romantic love. The only one who seemed to inspire that in Mary was him, Chris thought bitterly, at least he had thought so. However, logic assailed him once more because Mary certainly would not invite Vin for a romantic supper when her sister was in the house. As Chris felt the sun on his back as he rode into Four Corners, that thought occupied his mind more than he would like to admit.
Was it possible that she wanted her sister to meet Vin because he was special to her?
The idea twisted his insides so much, Chris could barely think. However, he could not ignore the fact any longer that something was happening between Vin and Mary. Is that why Vin suddenly wanted to leave Four Corners? Did he want to go because he realized that something was developing between himself and the lovely editor of the Clarion News? Did he fear Chris, knowing what would happen if Mary were to develop feelings for him? Or was it worse then that? Was Vin actually reciprocating those feelings?
Chris did not wish to think too deeply about this and brushed such thoughts away as he reached the jailhouse. Overhead, the sky looked clear as morning but there was just enough breath in the wind to convince the gunslinger that the sunny weather would not remain the same way for too long. He was rather surprised to see Ezra resting comfortably on a chair against the wall of the place, the gambler's feet stretched languidly as he entertained himself with his favorite deck of cards. Seeing the gambler up so early in the morning was rather surprising considering that most days it required blasting powder to get Ezra up any earlier than noon.
"What are you doing up?" Chris asked after he had tethered his horse to the hitching post and joined Ezra on the porch.
"I had trouble sleeping," Ezra retorted, which was a lie, because inwardly, he was pining for his feather bed. However, he and Catherine were playing highlights from the novel Vanity Fair and that required an early rising, although Ezra wondered when was the fictional character Becky Sharpe ever compelled to wake at this ungodly hour for the sake of her friend.
"Yeah;" Chris nodded. "I know what you mean."
"Care to talk about it?" Ezra offered on the off chance that Chris might actually decide to confide in someone and perhaps end the action that he and Catherine had been forced to take to make Chris see the light.
Chris opened his mouth to speak but the words would not come out.
"No," he said after a moment, unknowingly dashing all of Ezra's hopes with his answer.
Fine, Ezra thought to himself. You asked for it.
"I was going to accompany Mr. Tanner on patrol but it appears that he has other engagements," Ezra said nonchalantly as Chris took a seat next to him and aimed his sharp gaze to the increasing activity that came with morning on the streets of Four Corners.
"Other engagements?" Chris stared at the gambler, keeping silent the unspoken question he wanted to ask that at what point had the shy tracker become such a social butterfly. Keep this up and Chris was going to have to buy the sharpshooter a diary to keep abreast of his active social life.
"Yes," Ezra remarked with perfect innocence as if he might be commenting on the weather instead of some inflammatory piece of information that would see to it that the gunslinger's jealousy reached boiling point. "Apparently, he is taking Mrs. Travis and her sister riding today."
"Riding?" Chris bristled. "He's got work to do in town."
"I made some mention of that," Ezra said offhandedly, "but you know how stubborn he can be and I do not think he wished to disappoint the ladies."
Ezra did not employ the term in the singular but his tone more or less implied it and Chris was smart enough to notice. The gunslinger's jaw tightened but he said nothing.
"Have they left yet?" Chris asked after what was a very noticeable pause.
"I do not believe so," Ezra replied, perfectly aware that Chris was nearing the place where Catherine and he needed the gunslinger to be. Ezra still had fears that he might be shot for his trouble but he had gone too far to stop and he was starting to believe that this insane plan of Mary's sister might actually work.
Chris' gaze shifted to the front door of the Clarion News and did not move again until the object of his affections deigned to make her appearance. Fortunately, he had not long to wait because Vin Tanner soon rode up the street from the direction of the livery. Vin glanced in their direction as he rode by, tipping his hat at them in silent acknowledge. Ezra kept a close eye on both of them and saw that neither was prepared to say anything to each other, beyond the acknowledgement of presence. Ezra wondered which of them was more stubborn and was decided that it would take a wiser men that him to make the distinction.
Vin climbed off his horse and went to Mary's door, needing to knock only once before Mary answered it. The widow was dressed in her riding clothes and with her was Catherine. Of course, this outing had been pre-arranged by Catherine and Ezra long before the dinner invitation had been made and Ezra felt a little sense of smug satisfaction seeing everything fall into place so swimmingly. Chris was doing a pretty good job of hiding how he felt. Ezra doubted that anyone could see through that façade of indifference the gunslinger wore about him to hide his feelings. However, the gambler had made a career of being able to see through the masks people wore and he could tell by body language alone that Chris was nearing breaking point.
"Mrs. Travis looks lovely today," Ezra commented as Mary stepped out of the door with Catherine following closely behind. Privately, Ezra thought Catherine looked rather spectacular but crushed the thought with an expertise that would have made Chris proud, had he known.
Chris did not answer. Apparently Mary had anticipated the tracker's arrival for two horses were already saddled and waiting for her and her sister at the hitching post. He watched in barely controlled fury as Vin helped Mary into the saddle and he was certain that she knew he was watching because they were all laughing and talking to each other as if they were old acquaintances. Chris could never remember Vin being so vocal around any female, even Charlotte. Yet, he appeared to have none of that reserve and seeing how good he and Mary looked together felt as if a fist had clenched around Chris' heart.
It was not long before he had reached breaking point and could stand to watch no more. The gunslinger stood up abruptly and stormed away without another word. Ezra watched Chris make for the saloon and felt a hint of sympathy for Inez who would have to deal with Chris in such a foul mood. However, his reaction was exactly what Ezra was hoping for and he prayed that the jealous flame ignited within Chris Larabee would burn a lot hotter before it was finally quelled.
Ezra just hoped he would not get consumed in the inferno.
Upon leaving Four Corners, one thing soon became very clear to Catherine. While the Territory had nothing to recommend it in the way of the sophistication found in large eastern cities, like the one she had left behind to visit, it all but made up for this deficiency by its spectacular landscape. Being in Four Corners made one forget that there was more to the Territory than dust blown cities and provincial folk trying to eke out their destinies so far away from what was considered civilization. As they rode out of town into the wide open spaces that lay between most of the small towns scattered throughout the region, Catherine was surprised at the beauty she was confronted with.
After being in Boston, seeing the huge tracks of empty land, covered in sun burnt grass and dry, thirsting trees was enough to overwhelm the senses. Taking a deep breath of the fresh air, unpolluted by all the chemicals that seemed to taint the air of cities these days, Catherine could not help feeling a heady sort of delight in the rustic simplicity of things around her. For a short time at least, the real world seemed very far away from here and left her actions in Four Corners exposed to deeper scrutiny. She wondered if she was right, interfering in Mary's life this way and pushing her sister towards a confrontation with the man she was so obviously in love with. Catherine also questioned the morality of using the tracker as the impetus for bringing about their reconciliation.
Of her partner in crime, Ezra Standish, she thought nothing.
Or at least tried not to because it was safer that way. Catherine could not deny being inordinately attracted to the handsome gambler but she had a life in Boston that would not appreciate the confusion of an ill-advised love affair at this time. As much as she liked him, she was too much a creature of habit and a life dedicated to social climbing had conditioned her too much to take such a foolish gamble with her affections, no matter how much kinship she felt with him.
Her thoughts eventually returned to the journey and the tracker proved himself to be quite the guide, showing them some lovely spots that Catherine would have doubted existed in such a harsh landscape, despite its overall magnificence. Vin seemed to shy away from both Mary and her, offering his counsel only when spoken to directly. Catherine had the impression that he was shy and not used to being on his own with two women. There were moments when he appeared to wish to add to the conversation but having thought better of it, retreated into silence once more.
It was almost noon when they decided to break for lunch and as Mary laid out the meal she had brought with her, Vin tended to their horses. They had chosen a shady spot beneath a large tree for their picnic that overlooked the shallow part of a river. Rocks could be seen jutting out of the water and it was clear enough for them to make out the hundred of pebbles that covered the riverbed. The view like everything else, seemed breathtaking and the wind, though picking up momentum somewhat, was still pleasant.
"You know you haven't told me why you came to Four Corners to visit," Mary spoke up, now that they were alone for the moment. She was glad for the privacy as Vin got the horses watered.
"I came to see you, of course." Catherine looked at her from where she was sitting on the picnic rug.
"After ten years, I seriously doubt you developed a huge sisterly need to see me," Mary retorted skeptically.
"Mary, what a horrible thing to say," Catherine stared at her with genuine shock.
"It's true," Mary declared, unrepentant, and exposing the resentment she had kept buried for so long. "I have invited all of you to come see me for years when Stephen was alive. I wanted you to see that my life was not the waste that you believed it to be but you never came. So now you're here and the only reason that I can think of why you would make the journey is to convince me to return home with you."
"Is that why you think I've come here?" Catherine asked incredulously.
"Isn't it?" Mary threw her a look of challenge.
"No," Catherine shook her head, deciding that she needed to speak truthfully to make her sister understand that this was not some effort to drag her from the home she loved so much, even if Catherine could not understand the attraction to the life Mary had chosen to lead.
"I am not going to deny that Mother and Father are worried about you," Catherine spoke after a long pause. "You don't write detailed letters for a writer."
"You never seemed very interested in my life here." Mary swallowed and dropped her gaze to the intricate pattern on the rug. "I saw no reason to tell you more than necessary."
"Mary," her sister stared at her. "We may not have approved of your choices with Stephen but we knew you loved him. Mother and father are not cut out to make a journey from Boston to a place like this, you know that. Mother is too wrapped up in her social life and father's busy with the paper. Besides, we really thought those invitations were politeness, not out of any real desire for us to be here."
"What about you?" Mary asked. "If Wendell has no trouble letting you come this far on your own, why didn't you come to visit before this?"
Catherine drew in a taut breath, having no wish to speak of this, but it appeared there was no other way than to tell Mary the truth. "Wendell wouldn't let me come and see you, Mary. He knew how dangerous the Territory was and he never had time enough to come with me."
"But you're here." Mary's brow wrinkled in confusion. "How did you manage it this time?"
"I managed it because Wendell and I are no longer living together," Catherine uttered softly.
Like Mary, she had kept her secret well. Not even her parents were aware of the situation and Catherine had yet to face the reality of the situation in regards to how it would affect the rest of her life. When her marriage had crumbled around her ears, Catherine had wanted to put some distance between her and Boston, because the news would reach the elite circles she so often traveled and the whole community would know of the scandal of their impending divorce.
"What?" Mary exclaimed in shock. "What happened?"
"I found out he had taken a lover. A young woman from a good family who is doing their level best to keep the news secret but it is hard to do since Wendell has bought a new home and moved her into it. Apparently, she is capable of giving him what I could not and so that is his reason for divorcing me."
"Oh, Catherine," Mary cried out with sorrow at her sister's plight. "I'm so sorry."
"There are rumors that the girl is pregnant," Catherine said bitterly. "So Wendell will finally have the child I could not give him."
"But that is scandalous!" Mary declared.
"Wendell does not appear to care." Catherine swallowed hard, unable to imagine how it could be so hard to speak the truth but she had confided to no one about what had happened yet and with Mary, she could at least tell her tale without recrimination. "Throughout our entire married life, he was all about image and keeping up appearances. He meets this girl and suddenly he doesn't care about anything any more except being with her. He claims that once the divorce is settled, he intends to quit Boston and go to Europe for a few years."
"What about you?" Mary demanded, unable to believe that straight-laced Wendell could act so irrationally, shirking off his responsibilities to his family and to his community.
"He's prepared to give me a very generous income," Catherine answered with a smile but there was only sorrow in her eyes, so it meant nothing, "as long as I give him as little difficulty as possible with the divorce. I can even keep my house."
"What are you going to do?" Mary asked, unable to imagine being faced with such a decision.
"I have already done it," Catherine retorted. "I signed the papers the day before I left for the West. I just could not stay there to see it all come out. I left a note for Mother and Father, explaining things as best I could. Hopefully by the time I return, Wendell and his mistress will be out of Boston."
"I am so sorry," Mary replied, feeling awful that she had been so single minded about Catherine's visit. It never even occurred to Mary that Catherine might have her own reasons for coming to Four Corners, beyond simply complicating her life. She was mortified by her selfishness. "I always thought you and Wendell were so well suited for each other."
She hesitated to say love because that was not the reason why Catherine had married Wendell Harrington. No matter how much sympathy Mary felt for her sister, she could not help thinking that if Catherine had married him for the right reasons, instead of money and social standing, things might have turned out differently.
"You can say it, Mary," Catherine remarked, seeing the glimmer in Mary's eyes that made her aware of her sister's thoughts even if they were unspoken. "You can say I told you so."
"I had nothing of the kind in mind," Mary lied, but she supposed Catherine knew her well enough to know otherwise.
"You were right though," Catherine sighed heavily. "I married him because of money and position. Oh, I made sure I was all he could ever want in a wife but I didn't love him and I think towards the end, he saw that and was driven to another woman's arms. As angry as I am with him, I'm not that much happier about me either."
Mary was not about to refute that statement but she was glad that Catherine did not journey here in some effort to have her return home. It relaxed Mary visibly to know that her sister had come, just to get away from it all and share a difficult time with the one person in all the world who would never judge her.
"Then maybe it is for the best," Mary offered after a pause.
"I wish I knew," Catherine replied and was about to speak more when suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching. Turning to her sister, Catherine added to a smile. "Now that my relationship is unsalvageable, we must see what can be done about yours."
"Catherine!" Mary groaned as Vin Tanner appeared before them.
"You're just in time, Mr. Tanner." Catherine smiled at the handsome tracker. "Lunch is ready for the serving."
"Thank you, ma'am," Vin said politely as he lowered himself into the grass next to them.
"No, thank you," Catherine returned smoothly as Mary began serving the food laid out before them. "This was a most enjoyable outing. I had no idea that the Territory could be so pretty."
"It is when you're out in the open," Vin replied, thinking how true that statement was and if it were not for his responsibilities in Four Corners, he would probably spend a good deal more time in the wilderness. Lately, its siren song had intensified and Vin wondered whether his need for solitude had more to do with how uncomplicated life seemed on the plains or his decaying friendship with Chris Larabee.
"Vin's a notorious plainsmen," Mary added politely, a teasing smile across her face as she glanced at the tracker. "He thinks Four Corners is a busy town."
"You would absolutely detest Boston then," Catherine declared. "There are tall building and paved streets everywhere."
"Don't think I could stand that much noise," Vin confessed honestly.
"You're just a wild and wooly type, aren't you?" Mary teased a little more.
"Something like that." Vin chuckled as he bit into the sandwich that Mary had given him. Glancing upwards at the sky, the tracker did not at all like how the breeze felt against his skin and, as pleasant as the day might appear now, he knew that it was going to turn.
"We may have to get going back to town after lunch," Vin spoke up after he swallowed. "The weather looks like it could turn any minute. I can feel a storm coming in."
"Oh," Mary declared, instinctively looking at the sky along with Catherine as Vin made that statement. Although the sky was blue and clear, there was more than enough clouds scattered about to give Mary the impression that Vin was right, even if she had not already trusted his word implicitly.
"How disappointing," Catherine sighed wistfully. In truth, her mind was already working out the possibilities of rain and how the weather could be used to her advantage. According to Ezra, there was already dissention in the ranks of the seven from the seeds of discord he had been able to plant in their minds. While most did not believe Vin capable of stealing Mary away from Mr. Larabee, there was enough uncertainty in their minds to tip the balance if provided with some incontrovertible truth.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but this ain't no place to be caught in the rain," Vin apologized.
"That's perfectly all right, Mr. Tanner," Catherine said sweetly. "I understand completely."
The rain came upon them far quicker than Vin could have expected. It did not take long after they had eaten for the wind to pick up and suddenly dark clouds had swept across the sky, leaving little trace of sunlight. Such radical change in the weather was not unusual but Vin was not at all happy to be caught in a storm with two women. Aside from the fact that when the rain did come down it would be nothing less than a torrential downpour, he honestly did not know if either Mary or Catherine could ride fast enough to beat the storm.
By the time they had packed up and were ready to leave, droplets of water had started sprinkling. Vin cursed under his breath knowing that they were not going to beat the rain and the nearest shelter was a good hour's ride away from where they presently were. While Mary had been packing up their things, Catherine had made some mention to Vin about taking a closer look at the river. He saw no harm in it since she had promised to be gone for only a few minutes and it had not started to rain just yet. However, when she had not returned by the time the first drop of rain fell on his cheek, Vin started to get a little nervous.
"Where did she go?" Mary asked anxiously as she followed Vin closely behind as the tracker started searching for the lady.
Vin spotted her tracks easily enough and was soon led back to where he had kept the horses. To both their surprise, Catherine's horse was gone.
"Why would she leave?" Mary asked puzzled as the rain started hissing around them, growing heavier with each passing moment.
"I don't know," Vin replied, just as confused. He did not admit that with the onset of the rain, what tracks Catherine might have left behind at which direction she might have gone was soon washed away by the slowly increasing momentum of the rain.
"We have to find her!" Mary said frantically as she faced the tracker.
"Don't worry." Vin took her by the shoulders and calmed her down. "We're not leaving her."
Unfortunately, saying it and meaning it were two different things. With the rain coming down harder with each passing instant, their efforts to find Catherine were greatly hampered. The water turned the ground to mud and what tracks he had been able to follow clearly indicated that Catherine was headed back to town but whether or not she was alone, he could not say for certain. The territory was a dangerous place for a woman, especially out in its wilderness alone. What worried Vin most of all was whether or not Catherine had set off on her own or was she taken? If she was taken why was there no signs of a struggle or sounds of her crying out? Vin had hear nothing of the kind and yet if this had not happened, where then, was Catherine?
There came a certain point in their search when they started to turn back towards Four Corners, resting their hope on the possibility that Catherine, if she was somehow lost, would attempt to return to town. It was not long before they came upon a farmhouse and thought that perhaps Catherine might have been driven there to take shelter. The rain saw no signs of abating and Vin could see that Mary was freezing in her soaked clothes but concern for her sister forced her on. The farmhouse appeared abandoned when they entered it but the fact that it came with a fireplace was what Vin was most interested in.
"Where is she, Vin?" Mary asked softly as the heat from the fire he soon built warmed the room and her chilled skin.
"I don't know," Vin answered honestly, wishing he could be of more help to her. "I'm sure she decided to go exploring a little and lost track of time. If that's the case, she's probably on her way home to Four Corners by now."
"You think so?" She asked and looked into his blue eyes as he sat next to her, warming himself with the fire.
"I know so," he replied softly.
Mary lapsed into silence for a moment as she stared at Vin's blue eyes and saw that he was staring back at her in similar contemplation. She thought about what Catherine had said, about moving on if Chris was out of her life for good. She wondered if Vin was thinking the same thing for as they sat together, enjoying the heat of the fire against their cool skins, Four Corners and the rest of their troubles seemed very far away. Unconsciously, she drew closer to him and though they were slipping into dangerous territory, and they both knew it, neither seemed to care.
Their kiss was gentle and hesitant. For a moment neither were able to take a breath as they felt the texture of each other lips. Mary could feel his stubble against her cheek and noted that he had a distinct scent about him, an aroma that reminded her of the forest after a rainstorm. As they tried to explore this curious place they suddenly found themselves, Mary opened her eyes and noticed Vin was doing the same.
For a moment, their gazes remained locked upon each other before both started laughing.
Pulling apart, the room was filled with the sound of their laughter for the few minutes before Vin and Mary embraced each other warmly. It was good to be able to laugh and to be able to leave behind the strange no man's land they had crossed a moment ago. A single kiss had taught them that they could never be any more than friends.
"I love you, you know," Vin said to Mary when he had sobered a little.
"I know," Mary beamed. "Now I don't ever want to talk about this again."
"You got that right." Vin let a cocky smile cross his lips. "I don't like the idea of being shot if Chris got wind of this."
"Vin," Mary placed a hand on his cheek, "whatever happens between me and Chris, you'll always be my friend, won't you?'
"You know I will, Mary," Vin replied, meaning it. "But something has got to break soon. We can't go on like this. Any of us."
"He's just so angry about Ella." Mary shook her head in confusion. "I know he thinks that he's protecting me by staying away but he's wrong. I love him. I have from the first moment I saw him but he makes it so difficult."
"That's the way Chris is, Mary," Vin explained, surprised how easy it was to talk to Mary after that entire embarrassing incident was done. "He likes being a grim son of a bitch. I've ridden with him for three years now and I know that he ain't happy unless he ain't. He's just so afraid of feeling something good because he might lose it again, like he did Sarah and Adam."
"When this is all over," Mary sucked in her breath, coming to a firm conclusion that this was the course and she was not changing her mind over it, "I think we need to sit down and have it out with him, once and for all."
"Maybe you're right," Vin agreed reluctantly, "maybe it's time we dealt with this once and for all."
It would have surprised Vin to know that was being taken care of even as he spoke.
Catherine arrived in town about the same time that Vin and Mary had finally come to some decision about what they would do in regards to the untenable situation that existed between them and Chris Larabee. Despite living in Boston, Catherine was quite a good horsewoman, having taken morning rides through the sprawling estate where she and Wendell had made their home. It was not difficult for her to find her way back to Four Corners and though she had taken shelter for a while under the cover of some tress, she was soaking wet when she arrived in the small community, she did so without incident.
Catherine anticipated that it would not take long for Vin and Mary to follow her back to town. No doubt, they would spend some time searching for her before their lack of success drove them back to town to organized a larger search. In the meantime, however, Catherine hoped that Ezra had done his job, stoking the fires of suspicion even further within Chris Larabee. As Catherine rode into town, drenched to the bone, she noted that most of the community's inhabitants had been driven indoors. This was hardly surprising considering the ferocity of the storm. As it was, it had taken all her skill to ride through the heavy sheets of rain and the strong wind that threatened to tear her out of the saddle at some points in the journey.
Wiping the moisture from her face that the sagging hat around her head could not keep away, Catherine directed her horse for the nearest shelter, aware that Ezra was probably keeping an eye out for her. She did not have long to wait when she saw Ezra emerging from the saloon. She had intended to take her horse to the livery first but Ezra's appearance put an end to that plan, so she rode towards him. Despite their planned collaboration, Catherine could see that there was genuine worry in his eyes as she approached. If she did not know better, she would almost say that he was worried about her.
"Catherine, what in heaven's name happened to you?" He asked, rushing out into the rain when her horse reached the hitching post.
"Change of plans," she said quietly as he helped her out of the saddle and they hurried under the awning in front of the saloon.
"Where is Mr. Tanner and Mary?" Ezra asked as he saw her bedraggled state and felt no ease in her declarations that she was fine.
"Out there." she gestured towards the outskirts of town.
"Out there?" This statement came from Buck Wilmington, who came to investigate the reason for Ezra's sudden exit out of the saloon, only to catch the tale end of his conversation with Catherine. "What do you mean out there?"
"Steady on, Mr. Wilmington," Ezra immediately warned, protective determination in his voice as he stared at the ladies' man sternly. "The lady appears to have been through something of an ordeal."
"An ordeal?" Buck's expression melted to that of concern. "Are you all right, Catherine?"
"I'm just a little soaked," she remarked just as Ezra removed his burgundy colored coat from his shoulders and draped it over hers. "I was just having lunch with Mary and Vin. We had stopped at this lovely place and then I told them I'd go for a little walk. When I came back, they were gone."
"Gone?" Buck stared at her in astonishment, unable to believe either of the people being spoken about would act so irrationally. "Where did they go?"
"I don't know," Catherine said innocently, "aren't they back yet?"
"What's going on?" Chris Larabee stepped out of the saloon. His keen senses, though somewhat dulled by alcohol, had noted the hasty departures from the Standish Tavern and was determined to know what was happening. Nothing happened in Four Corners without the gunslinger's knowledge. Chris Larabee was not a man who had patience for surprises and he kept the town and his men safe by being informed of everything transpiring in the town, no matter how insignificant it was. It was the details that separated life from death, Chris had decided long, ago and he never ignored them.
At first, no one was terribly eager to answer him, a situation that only served to increase Chris' desire to know.
"What is it?" He repeated himself with just a tinge of Larabee menace to make one of them speak, which in this case, was Ezra.
"It's Mr. Tanner and Mrs. Travis. It appears that Catherine might have lost them." He pretended to make the offering reluctantly.
"Lost them?" Chris demanded, a brow arched. "How do you lose a tracker?'
"One minute he and Mary were there and the next, I turned around and they were gone. I was hoping they would be back in town by now," Catherine replied. "I'm guessing they aren't."
"Wherever could they be?" Ezra asked.
"Wherever it is, they're together," Buck said bitterly, innuendo clearly dripping from his voice.
"How dare you make such a suggestion!" Catherine burst out, full of self-indignant fury. "I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to what they're doing together."
"There is," Buck hissed, "but not one we're going to like."
"My sister is no wanton!" Catherine blustered. Her cheeks flushed red with mock anger.
"I agree with the lady on this point, Buck," Ezra retorted. "However, even if there is something taking place between them, it is none of our business. They are adults and they have a right to conduct their affairs privately."
"It ain't right!" Buck snapped. "Everyone knows that Chris and Mary are….. you know?"
"I thought that was over?" Catherine replied.
"Of course it isn't!" Buck interjected. "You know how Chris is. He doesn't always say how he feels."
"Exactly do you feel about my sister?" Catherine turned to the gunslinger who had stood there watching a nightmare unfold in the shape of his best friend taking up with the only woman who meant anything while his friends argued about it as if he was not even there.
"That's my affair," Chris hissed.
"Well, you keep this up, Chris," Buck turned to him and said without any mercy, speaking his mind after holding back for so long,. "it's going to Vin and Mary's affair, if it isn't already."
"All right now, just shut up all of you!" Josiah's voice exploded around their ears as the preacher stepped through the bat wing doors with Nathan and JD following, their expressions showing just as much astonishment at what was taking place.
Their arguments were so loud that the entire tavern was now listening on the other side of the batwings doors in anticipation of the next installment. Josiah had hoped it would die down before it reached this point but it showed no signs of abating and such loud 'discussions' should not be undertaken in so public a place, especially when the speculation had the power to do great damage to Mary's social standing within the community.
Josiah's booming voice silenced the entire group with sudden start. However, things were not about to improve because riding through, town side by side, was Mary and Vin. Upon catching sight of Catherine, Mary immediately rode towards the saloon, relief flooding through her as she saw that her sister was safe and sound. They could have remained in that farmhouse indefinitely but Mary had not wanted to linger too long because there was no telling what harm could have befallen Catherine in the meantime. She did not notice Chris bristling with annoyance when Vin helped her off her horse and then she hurried up the steps towards them.
Suddenly, every suspicion Chris had been entertaining, no matter how absurd, took cohesive form when he saw Vin's hands around Mary's waist, lifting her from the saddle as if there was something intimate between them. A surge of fury bubbled inside of him that could not be dampened by the rain that was beating hard against the ground beyond the awning. Wasn't it enough that Vin had taken from him the chance to kill Ella from him, now he was taking Mary too? It was more than he could stand. For weeks now, he had held his rage in check even though there were moments when he wanted to scream it out loud. But he had restrained it and forced it into a hidden place within himself where it would do no harm. However, seeing Mary and Vin together had shattered the last of his resolve and as he felt the rage suffuse him, Chris had no idea it could be so liberating.
Mary hurried up the steps, wanting to know what on earth Catherine was doing here and what had happened to her. "Where were you?" She demanded as soon as she reached them.
Unfortunately, there was no chance for Catherine to answer because no sooner had Vin had stepped onto the porch with her, than Chris was barreling straight into the tracker, sending them both flying through the air before landing hard on the ground. Both men created a huge splash as they landed, with the rest of their company staring in nothing less than shock before anyone had voice enough to respond.
"CHRIS LARABEE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mary fairly screamed as she saw Chris and Vin rolling around the mud.
"Chris, have you lost your mind?" Vin Tanner managed to say as he pulled himself free of the gunslinger's tackle when a fist connected straight into his jaw and sent him sprawling.
"You low down, piece of trash!" Chris hissed, fury, jealousy and alcohol forcing his hand as he reached for Vin and hauled him to his feet. "I thought we were friends!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Vin demanded as he felt himself being dragged upwards.
"Don't even pretend to deny it," Chris shouted as he grabbed Vin by the collar of his shirt and slammed his forehead against the tracker's. The maneuver disorientated Vin as he staggered backwards, blood running down his forehead from split skin. The impact was sending shock waves through his skull and he barely made out that Chris was shouting at him.
"We should stop this," JD declared making a move towards the two man battling out in the street. Their fight was bringing people to their windows to view the spectacle from all across town.
"No, we shouldn't," Buck said holding the younger man back. For the first time since Ella's death, Chris and Vin were communicating.
"They're killing each other!" JD exclaimed.
"No," Josiah answered with a little smile. "They're talking."
"Oh for the love of God!" Mary threw her hands in the air and shook her head in disgust. "When will you men get part this masculine desire to beat each other to a pulp whenever you have a disagreement! I'll do something."
"Mary, I don't think that's such a good idea," Catherine said watching the tracker recover from the surprise of the attack and retaliating with equal skill. She winced as she saw Vin slam his foot into Chris' knee, bringing down the gunslinger to his knees before throwing a fist in his face as Chris struggled to recoup from the attack.
"I don't care if it's a good idea or not!" Mary hissed, "I'm not letting them do this!"
Unfortunately, it appeared that they would be doing it and quite a bit more as Chris got to his feet and caught Vin's fist long enough to throw a punch in the younger man's face. Vin shook the blow off and ducked when Chris swung again. When he bounced back up again, he took advantage of Chris' weakened position when swinging and rammed his fist into the gunslinger's side. Chris retaliated by swinging his arm wide and striking Vin with the back of his knuckles. The tracker felt blood filling his mouth.
Vin wiped the blood from his face and turned just in time to see Chris throwing another punch. He caught the man's clenched fist and delivered one of his own. As Chris tumbled to the ground, he ensured that Vin came with him and once again they both landed on the ground, splattering mud in all directions.
"What's the matter with you!" Vin demanded as he rolled onto his stomach and tried to get to his feet.
"As if you didn't know!" Chris snarled as he stood up as well, preparing to launch himself at the tracker.
"No, I don't know!" Vin barked, unable to believe that their long friendship had disintegrated to this bloody display with their fists.
"How could you steal her away from me!" Chris growled, lunging at Vin like a coiled serpent and toppling the younger man back on the mud once more.
"What?" Vin exclaimed with astonishment now that he was in a better state of mind to think, to understand what it was Chris was inferring.
However, his shock did not register upon Chris as the gunslinger jumped on top of him, preparing to strike again. Vin brought up his leg and snapped the toe of his boot against the back of Chris' skull throwing the man off his body. As Chris fell face first into the mud, Vin grabbed him by the back of his arms, trying to diffuse this situation by immobilizing the angry gunfighter. Unfortunately, no one would restrain Chris Larabee and he slammed his head back hard, connecting with Vin's face. Vin released his hold of Chris and reeled in pain as blood poured freely from a broken nose. Chris turned around, breathing hard, the fire of his rage far from exhausted as he started towards the tracker again.
Vin was wiping the blood from his face, an effort made easier by the rain pouring down on them. Although he was defending himself against Chris, Vin was trying to keep the situation from spiraling completely out of control, though it was near. He did not want to fight Chris but even Vin was astute enough to know this rage had been building for some time and it needed resolution. Unfortunately, Chris did not look as if he was going to be receptive to any attempt to accomplish this. As it was, Chris was getting ready to attack again and Vin did not know how much longer he could hold back his punches. He gazed at the rest of the seven watching them and knew that the time when they would step back and let them handle this on their own, even in this brutal way, was dwindling. Resolving the situation was one thing, allowing them to beat each other to death was another thing entirely.
"STOP IT YOU BOTH!" Mary Travis suddenly ended the fight by placing herself in the midst of it. "What in god's name are you doing, Chris?" She turned to the gunfighter with confusion, horror and tears in her eyes all at once.
"What am I doing?" He demanded. "What are you doing? Taking up with my best friend?"
Mary stared at him for a second as she understood what he was implying. Her astonishment clearly registering on her face as she ran her fingers through her wet hair and exclaimed, "have you lost your mind completely? What on earth makes you think that there's anything between us!"
"I'm not a fool, Mary!" Chris retorted, glaring at both Vin and Mary, who was staring back at him with astonished eyes. "You two have been pretty tight the last few days. Suppers alone and then afternoon rides, what am I supposed to think?"
Mary's jaw dropped open in outrage and she slapped him hard across the face. "You selfish son of a bitch!"
She swore so loudly that it stunned everyone in the vicinity to hear it, not to mention Chris, who was staring at her in stunned silence at her physical display. He saw her eyes blazing with white flame and suddenly realized he had never seen so angry in his entire life. Raising his eyes to Vin, he saw the tracker shaking his head in disgust and suddenly, the cold water that had been raining down on him, finally reached his skin and returned him to some semblance of himself.
"How dare you stand there and take the moral high ground with me! You left me! You were prepared to throw away everything we had because of that woman! She killed your wife and child Chris and she damned well nearly killed me and my son! She could have saved herself the trouble because you're perfectly capable of destroying anything between us all on your own!. You showed me how little I mean to you, how easy it was to brush me aside. Now you stand there, daring to accuse me, when you were the one who pushed me away? How dare you?"
"I was protecting you," Chris managed to say because her words had penetrated. They cut through flesh and met bone and for the first time in too long, Chris felt anguish almost as unbearable as losing Sarah and Adam. "I thought you were better off with someone else."
"You were protecting yourself, Chris Larabee!" Mary bit back viciously. "Don't insult my intelligence by telling me anything else."
With that, she turned her back on him, her damp hair slapping hard against her skin as she stormed away through the teeming rain, leaving him in more pain than he could possibly imagine. Chris watched her go, watched her retreat towards the office of the Clarion and knew that she was right. He had been protecting himself. He loved her and that frightened him beyond belief. It scared him to know that he could be hurt the same way he was when Sarah and Adam had been taken. He had used Ella as an excuse to drive Mary away and it now appeared that he had succeeded.
"She was teaching me how to read, Chris," Vin Tanner spoke suddenly.
"What?" Chris raised his eyes to his friend, to his best friend whom he had just used his fists upon.
"I can't read," Vin replied softly, his expression strained as he made the revelation that no one except Mary had been privy to. "I can't even write my name, Chris. Mary was teaching me to how to learn my letters and write. She thought I could put those poems of mine to paper."
Chris did not know what to say because he so flooded with shame that it felt like gashes across his heart as he saw the friendship that had meant so much to him lying in shambles at his feet where he had trampled it. He thought of Ella and, how she had once again, managed to destroy his life even from the grave. He closed his eyes and was thankful that no one could see the tears that were forming in his eyes from this realization.
"Was this about me stealing Mary or Ella, Chris?" The tracker asked once more and even though he was just as drenched as Chris, the gunslinger knew by the glistening in those blue eyes that Vin's were filled with tears. "
"I wanted to kill her," Chris finally spoke, his voice escaping him like hoarse whisper. "I dreamed about it for so long Vin. I wanted her to die for what she did to my wife and my son! I wanted to make her suffer! To make her know the pain that she made me go through! I wanted her death to last! When you killed her, you took that away from me!"
"I'm sorry," Vin answered. "I can't change what happened, Chris. She was going to kill you and I did what I had to. I'm not going to apologize for saving your life, just for taking away your chance at revenge, but you're making sure she finished everything she set out to do, even though she's dead. You're letting her win and I don't know you well enough any more to know for certain that you even care about that."
"Of course I care." Chris met his eyes and for the first time in too long, that bond was there once again. It was weak and it was battered by weeks of hostility but it was still there. That imperceptible connection that had linked them together when they had stared across the street and met each other's eyes for the first time.
Chris straightened up and walked towards Vin unaware that those watching were holding their breaths as he crossed the space between them. Vin however, felt no fear as Chris approached him. This was long in coming and they had survived it, despite how hard it had been for both of them. Chris paused in front of Vin and swallowed thickly.
"I am sorry, Vin," Chris replied, clear regret on his face as he grabbed Vin in a warm embrace. "I am so sorry."
"It's okay, pard." Vin felt the emotion choking him as he patted his friend's back and was glad that at last, things were going to be right with them again. "It's okay."
When they pulled away from each other, both men let out a heavy breath, dispelling the emotional turmoil, which had held them in its thrall for longer than either would care to admit. Chris' gaze shifted towards the Clarion News. While he might have cleared things up with Vin, Mary was another thing entirely.
"I have to go," Chris whispered softly as he met Vin's eyes.
"Yeah, you do." Vin nodded.
"Got any suggestions on how I ought to handle this?" Chris asked not really expecting an answer.
"Not sure," Vin shrugged, "but it's a safe bet that crawling is going to be involved."
Chris threw the tracker a little smile and sucked in his breath, "I guess I'd better get started."
"Well that worked out better than we planned.," Ezra smiled like the proverbial cat that ate the canary as they saw weeks of enmity between two friends finally dissipate with the teeming rain.
"I do believe you're right, Mr. Standish," Catherine said as she threw him a radiant smile.
"Better than we planned?" Buck Wilmington stared at them both in shock. "What you do mean you had this planned?'
"Shall I do the honors my dear?" Ezra glanced at the lady with a cocky smile.
"Oh most definitely," Catherine replied with flamboyant disregard.
"I told you, Josiah," Ezra replied as he captured the undivided attention of the rest of the seven as they realized that part of what had happened today was no fluke but the product of some clever manipulation by their resident gambler and his newest partner in crime. "This would be a situation that required subtlety, and fortunately, Mrs. Harrington here possesses it in quantities that even I am forced to applaud."
"Oh, Mr. Standish, you flatter me," Catherine beamed.
"You mean that whole thing about them being alone together was just a lie?" Buck declared, realizing just how much Ezra had been responsible for his belief that something was going on between Vin and Mary.
"They were together," Ezra glanced at Catherine before smiling at Buck again, "just in a perfectly innocent way. However, knowing how vocal you are about some things, I was assured that any assumption you made would no doubt reach Chris' ears."
"And all I had to was to ensure that Mary was in Vin's company a little more than usual for that illusion to have its full effect," Catherine added.
"So you played me?" Buck did not know whether he should be offended or grateful, since the end result was forcing the confrontation that was so needed between all parties concerned.
"Like a violin." Ezra grinned, his sea-colored eyes sparkling in mischief.
"I always knew those scheming qualities of yours would come in handy, Ezra." Nathan started to laugh, patting the gambler on the shoulder.
"Thank you," Ezra gave the healer a look, "I think."
"You did good, Ezra." Josiah smiled with approval and it surprised the gambler how much the preacher's compliment meant to him. "You got them to talk."
"They had to," Ezra replied. "It was becoming all together too tense in this place. Mr. Larabee was outdoing even his blackest moods of late and you know how I like a challenge."
"You're just lucky Chris didn't shoot you," JD pointed out and despite the end result, Ezra could not entirely disagree with that statement.
"I think he has bigger things to deal with at this moment," Catherine spoke up as she glanced towards the front door of the Clarion News office where Chris Larabee had just entered.
"Yeah, that's true," Vin Tanner remarked dropping a wet hand on Ezra's shoulder before adding menacingly, "but Chris ain't the only one with a gun."
Chris found Mary seated at her kitchen table, running a towel through her hair as she waited for the kettle on the stove to boil. A pot of tea waited brewing as she dried her golden locks of hair. Chris stared at those white gold strands and was reminded how soft they were to the touch. Once again, the shame of his behavior the last few weeks rose up and threatened to choke the air out of his lungs. He had behaved so badly and it had taken almost losing her to see it. Chris had sunk to some low points in his life but until now, he did not know how deep he could plunge into self-pity.
She sat up straight in the chair when she saw him intrude upon her private bastion and he felt like the supplicant groveling before his queen. Considering his behavior, he supposed he deserved to be in such a humbling position. She said nothing as she watched him cross the floor to the table, wondering what words he would use to try and convince her to trust him, trying to decide if there was anything he could say that would mend her ravaged heart. She loved him. There was no doubt in her mind of that. She would love him until she went to her grave but she would not allow him to break her heart because he was too afraid of her. Not again.
He stood before her, saying nothing but his face showed regret so deep that her heart ached from seeing it. She wondered what he would say, wondered if he would try to take the upper hand and tell her that he had good reason for thinking as he did, that Ella's poison had warped his mind and had made him act less than rationally. Mary prepared herself for all this, not wishing to forgive him so easily for what he had made her suffer. He deserved to feel some pain for what he had done, so that he would know never to hurt her life this again. Mary braced herself to be hard because she was still angry at him.
Then Chris did something she did not expect and all the musings in the world no longer seemed important.
He dropped to his knees and buried his head in her lap, his arms sliding around his waist as he held her close and whispered or perhaps sobbed, she could not tell for certain.
"I'm sorry, Mary." his voice was a whisper of pain and anguish that all at once sliced neatly through her anger as if it wasn't there. "Forgive me, please. I swear I'll never hurt you again. I love you, Mary, I love you so much it scares me. I can't make what I did go away but I promise you it will never happen again. I don't think I can stand losing you."
Mary felt tears forming her eyes as she listened to his empathic plea. Large droplets rolled down her cheeks as her trembling hand stroked his hair and she knew that she could never refuse him. Whether or not it was madness to love this man, she did not know. She only knew that she loved him as much as he loved her and once that admission was made, life became a good deal simpler to cope with. For the moment however, there was no need for her to answer because the gentle caress of her hand against his hair told Chris all he needed to know.
In her arms, he was home.
Fortunately, the rest of Catherine's visit was nowhere as turbulent as her first few days in Four Corners. Mary was not entirely impressed with how her sister and Ezra had manipulated Chris, Vin and herself to achieve their much needed reconciliation but considering that Catherine had done it out love for her, assuaged much of Mary's anger in this regard. For the first time since Ella Gaines had met her end, things in Mary's life had returned to normal. Chris and Vin were friends in the way she and the rest of the seven were accustomed to seeing, especially after banding together and locking Ezra in jail for the night, a beneficence for his meddling in their affairs. Chris was a regular visitor to the Clarion News and though their relationship bore all the earmarks of respectability, no one who happened by was blind to the adoration she and Chris had for each other.
"Do you have to go?" Mary asked as she saw Catherine off at the stage depot.
The carriage was already waiting at the wooden sidewalk, with its driver going about the business of loading luggage onto the top of the old Concord. Passengers were scattered about, making their individual farewells to their loved ones before their journey.
When Catherine had first arrived, Mary had never imagined that she would be in this same place, begging her sister to stay but Catherine was not the same person she knew as a child. Well not entirely. Her sister was still prone to shaping everything to suit her needs and she still as manipulative and scheming as always but there was also an edge of tenderness to her that Mary had not noticed until now. Catherine had suddenly evolved from being her older sister to becoming her friend and that was something that Mary was very grateful for.
"Yes." Catherine nodded as she looked into her sister's eyes and saw real sadness at her departure. It touched the Bostonian divorcee more than she would care to admit. "I have to get back to my life now that I have set yours straight."
"Naturally." Mary laughed, wondering where on earth Catherine had inherited that inflated ego. Thank goodness, she was spared that herself. "Are you sure about going back? You can stay here for awhile, let things die down in Boston."
"It is tempting," Catherine replied casting her gaze around the small town that had grown on her more than she would like to admit it. "I could stay here a long time and hide away from everything that I know but that's not in me, just as it's not in you to run away from this place when you can stand your ground and fight. I need to be as strong as you, Mary. I need to go home and face things, no matter how hard it is."
"I understand," Mary nodded. "I'll just miss you a lot that's all."
"And I'll miss you," Catherine declared as the sisters met each other in another warm embrace.
"But this time," Catherine said as they faced each other again. "I'm not going to wait ten years to come back to see you."
"That's good to know," Mary replied with a sad smile. "I feel like I'm getting to know you all over again."
"I always knew you," her sister retorted smugly. "You're smart, determined and beautiful. You always were. Of course, you're my sister, so what else could you be?"
"Modest," Mary pointed out laughing.
"You don't need that." Catherine waved the thought aside casually with a gloved hand. "Most of the time it's a pain."
"I'll take your word for it." Mary laughed and then saw Catherine's expression melt into thoughtfulness as her sister gazed past her shoulder.
"Mr. Standish," Catherine said as Ezra joined them.
"Mary." Ezra tipped his hat politely at the newspaperwoman before turning his attention to Catherine. "I did not wish you to leave without saying goodbye."
"I'll just go and see when this stage is leaving," Mary said discreetly, guessing that Ezra and her sister would like a moment alone. The two of them had been constant companions since Chris and Mary had reconciled, with Ezra showing Catherine the meager entertainment that Four Corners had to offer. Mary had made no objections to the association because she suspected Catherine needed a little validation as a woman after her marriage's end and Ezra was too much of a gentlemen to compromise her reputation.
Once she was gone, Ezra turned to Catherine and took her hand in his, placing a gentle kiss on the knuckle of her gloved hand. "I have enjoyed the time we've spent together," Ezra said warmly.
"We made a good team," Catherine said softly, trying not to become lost in his eyes.
"Perhaps some day, we might meet again," Ezra responded, there was more hope in his voice then he intended and the private person that he was felt a little embarrassed at exposing his emotions so nakedly.
"We might," she smiled, "I will come back here at some point to see my sister. If you are here, maybe we might see what we can do for an encore performance, that is, if you're game?"
"Never ask that of a gambler," Ezra chuckled, "games are what we live for."
"It was my pleasure playing this one with you," she said throwing a quick glance at Mary. "Thank you for helping me, Ezra, I wanted so much to see her happy. She deserves that."
With that Ezra could not disagree.
"Until next time," he raised her hand to his once more and kissed it again, "Catherine the Great."
Catherine looked at him and smiled, "Don't you ever forget it."
THE END
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