Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
By the time the sun had set in the horizon of what was a very long day for the seven, most of Mallaeson Davis' men had either met their maker or reached the conclusion that the notion of taking the town was generally a bad idea. The lawmen had managed to hold their own and kill a good deal of their number, capturing the ringleaders among them including Davis himself. Jaques and Stephens were dead and Marks, their only connection to Bosshard had wisely chosen to disappear before things deteriorated further. Bosshard lay in the jailhouse, quite dead and with him any possibility that they would get payment for their services. By the time dusk fell, the men were on their way out of the town, swearing vengeance but inwardly pleased that they were leaving with their skins. Despite all this however, there was no victory for the seven. Not when Chris had found Ezra and Nathan and discovered what had happened in the jailhouse.
"How is she?" Chris asked Vin quietly while lowering himself into the chair across the hall from the tracker, after he, JD and Buck had returned to Nathan's infirmary. They had finished dealing with the last of Davis' men and the outlaw himself was now seeing the world through the sturdy bars of his cell in the jailhouse.
Vin was tightening the makeshift bandage across his leg as a temporary treatment until Nathan was able to deal with his injury. Chris had a similar treatment around his shoulder however, he understood that Nathan's attentions were needed elsewhere at the moment.
"There's been no word yet," Vin offered, glancing in Ezra's direction and feeling his chest tighten in sympathy for what the gambler must have been feeling at this time. "Nathan said she was hurt pretty bad though."
Chris nodded slowly, wishing there was something he could do to help but this was one arena in which Nathan knew the best and had to be allowed the freedom to do it without interference. If anyone could save Julia it was Nathan Jackson. "How's Ezra doing?"
Vin's lips tightened in a thin line and an expression of worry crossed the younger man's face. "He ain't said a word since he sat down. Just keeps staring into empty space. Even Maude can't get a word out of him."
At least that he could understand. If it he in Ezra's position right now, silence would be the last thing Maude would receive. The sheer irresponsibility of what she had done made Chris' head swim from anger and he could not imagine what Ezra must have been feeling. Neither Maude nor Julia should have been in town. The whole point of escorting them to the Seminole village in the first place was to avoid this tragic possibility. Maude was sitting across from Ezra in the narrow hall outside the room where Nathan was fighting to save Julia's life. The lady was clutching a handkerchief but the evidence of tears was clear from her stricken eyes, staring at Ezra, imploring forgiveness in her tortured expression and receiving none from his anguished face.
Buck walked to Ezra and offered the gambler a show of support by squeezing him gently on the shoulder. Ezra's eyes raised briefly to meet the big man's before receding into his somber visage again. Buck sighed heavily and turned back to Chris and the others, knowing that there would be no consoling Ezra until they had word that Julia was going to be all right. At the precise moment, the chances of that did not appear too good. Chris had seen the spot where Julia had fallen in the jailhouse; he had seen the pool of blood seeping into the wood. There was too much of it to convince him that she would survive the night without a great deal of luck. Chris wanted to say something to Ezra but the words would seem shallow right now because they had seemed shallow to him when he had lost Sarah and Adam and even though Julia was not dead, their effect upon the gambler would be the same.
Thus Chris remained silence and the rest of the seven did the same, driven to do the only thing they could do as friends, simply be there.
Ezra did not say anything because he was numb.
His heart seemed to be shrinking inside his chest, disappearing as the seconds ticked by and the stretch of time since he had held Julia in his arms lengthened into eternity. He started thinking that if enough time went by, his heart might vanish all together and this terrible feeling that his world was about to splinter would disappear with it. He thought of all the terrible things he had endured of late and laughed inwardly when he had carelessly thought that he had lost everything that mattered and nothing else could hurt him as much again. Why did people offer fate such challenges when it was almost a certainty that the gauntlet thrown would be picked up? Why were they so blind at what there was left to lose until it was taken away from them? Is that what was going to happen to him? Was he to lose Julia to learn how much she meant to him?
God, he could not even begin to imagine it.
The mere suggestion that she could die drew a cry of despair from deep inside him. It clawed its way from the depths of his soul to make itself heard until his entire being was shaking with anguish. His mind became frozen with horror, locked in a repeating loop that kept saying the same thing; he could not live without her. He did not want to know how. Ezra hardly noticed that he was staring into nothingness as these terrified thoughts raced through his mind or that his fists were knotted at his sides so tautly, that his knuckles had become white from the pressure. His jaw was clenched and he was trembling ever so slightly, like a coil winding up with tension, ready to spring at a moment's notice.
Through the fog of his sorrow and desolation, he heard his mother's voice addressing him and for the first time in untold minutes, stopped to listen to what she had to say.
"Ezra," Maude was speaking. "I'm so sorry. I did not mean for this to happen. I was just thinking of that man and what he had done to us."
Ezra raised his eyes and they were cold as the heart of a dead sun. "Mother, I do not wish to hear it."
"Ezra please," Maude blinked and fresh tear ran down her cheeks because she felt so terrible for what had happened. "I wanted to make that man pay for what he had done to your father but I never expected this."
"Enough!" He hissed, his voice like lashes against the skin. "I do not wish to hear anything from you at this time!"
"I'm sorry!" She burst out in tear. "I am so sorry!"
"Sorry?" He rose to his feet and was before her in seconds. "I asked you to do one thing! One thing and that was to let me handle Bosshard. Not only did you blatantly ignore that request, you almost got yourself killed and in the process may have caused the death of the only woman that has ever meant anything to me! I do not care for your apologies at this time, Madam!"
Maude was weeping harder now and was too shaken to notice Josiah attempting to intervene only to have Chris hold back the preacher because this issue was between mother and son.
"If she dies," Ezra glared at her. "I will never forgive you."
"Don't say that," Maude wept helplessly, "you can't mean it!"
"I do not know what I mean at this time," he said feeling the energy drain out of him. "I only know that vengeance solves nothing. I did not want to kill Bosshard. I wanted the law to deal with him, the law my father obviously respected and relied upon and was willing to die for. I know what vengeance does mother, I have seen it at work personally and I have learnt that you cannot avenge anything without sacrificing a part of yourself or in this case sacrificing those that you love."
"She'll live," Maude whispered. "She's strong." It was more of a hope that it was fact and Ezra could take little comfort in it.
"She is everything." Ezra turned away from her. "She is the one person who has ever loved me unconditionally, who knew all my faults and follies and cared nothing about them because she I was what she wanted. She had stood by me in the worst of things and I never appreciated how terrible it would be if she were not merely gone from my life but also from this world." His eyes glistened in moisture and he swallowed hard to maintain rigid composure but it was a mask that those who were watching nearby could see through easily.
"I have not told her that enough lately," his voice drifted away. "I kept thinking there would be time enough and that the important things, the things that matter could wait for another day. However, that is not entirely true. Time waits for no one and if you do not seize the moment, then it will slip past your fingers leaving nothing but regret in its wake. I have wasted so much time of late, thinking about things I cannot change, allowing it to have power over me when it should have been I that took charge of it. I shunted my life aside because I could not let go and Julia was lost in that shuffle"
"I don't understand," Maude exclaimed. "What happened?"
Ezra turned to meet her gaze. "It is not important." He surprised himself because this time he really meant it. It was not important. Everything that happened with Hannibal Julius seemed so far away now and all that mattered now was the continued existence of Julia Pemberton. He blinked slowly and felt a tear escape him involuntarily before he wiped it away with his sleeve. "Nor that it matter any more. The only thing that does is Julia and I may have already lost her." Ezra muttered as he walked away from his mother and his friends, coming to a pause near the window where he could lose himself in his thoughts of regret once more.
His friends wanted to help him but at this point there was little they could say that would make things any better for him. All they could hope to do was offer support by their presence and be there for him if the worst happened. Each time he thought of that possibility, his heart tightened his chest so sharply that he thought it might burst from sheer despair. How could he go on without her? He had considered leaving her once, running away to spare himself the horror of losing her love. How could he have been so selfish when all she had done since learning of his ordeal with Julius was to show him that nothing could ever change how she felt even when he felt revulsion at touching her?
He was terrified that he would never have the chance to make it up to her if she died and he also knew with utter conviction that there was a price to vengeance that was never worth the paying. When he had killed Julius, he had understood some part of it but the death of Bosshard had driven the lesson home. Ezra hoped Maude had learnt something too. He had tried so hard to teach her differently, mostly because he feared for her life, never thinking that it could cost Julia's life instead.
Suddenly, a door swung open behind him and Ezra knew that it was the door to the room where Julia was being administered aid by Nathan. The creak of hinges was followed by heavy footsteps and Ezra remained frozen to the spot, not wanting to turn around to see Nathan's eyes telling him before the healer could even speak that Julia was gone. Ezra did not wish to see the others standing up or hear Maude moving quickly forward, even though it was he that Nathan most wanted to address. Ezra could picture in his mind's eye, Chris Larabee taking the initiative, imagining the words that were being spoken even as they were being uttered.
"How is she Nathan?" Chris asked, aware that Ezra had not turned to face the healer, probably because he did not wish to see the worst in Nathan's eyes.
Nathan sucked in his breath, "She's hurt real bad but she's going to make it."
"Oh thank God!" Maude gushed, her face dropping into her cupped hands from sheer relief.
The effect of Julia's continued survival was no less profound on the rest of the seven. Josiah in particular, let out a heavy sigh and muttered something under his breath Chris was certain was a prayer of gratitude towards his God. Expressions of pleasure swept through all the faces before the gunslinger, however, Ezra's back remained turned and what he was feeling was something the others could only guess at, although it was almost certain to be relief. They were almost certain that they themselves would feel the same intense emotions that Ezra must surely be experiencing at knowing the one that they love would live.
They were right because all that rang in Ezra's mind, as the news impacted upon his consciousness was one simple realization.
Julia was still with him. He had not lost her.
Ezra's entire being shuddered when he heard the news. He remained turned away, unable to face anyone as he came to grips with the fact that his Julia was not going to die. It seemed as if entire soul breathed a sigh of intense relief at the revelation, even though there was apart of him that was still scarcely able to believe that it was true. The image of how she had looked in his arms, how her blood had stained his hands had been seared into his memory and until now, he was terrified that it would be the last image he would have of her. For a few seconds, he merely stood there frozen and not daring to take a breath because he might just burst into tears from the gratitude of knowing that she would live and that was too emotional a display for him to endure in front of his friends.
He sucked in a deep breath, allowing the act to steady him before he turned and around to face his friends. There would be hiding the gratitude at Julia's well being but Ezra wanted to be composed nonetheless. He was still too much of a private person to have his feelings displayed so openly for all to see. He had not meant to show so much emotion but Julia was the only thing he knew that could make his tightly wounded up manner become so completely unraveled. Fortunately, he knew his friends would understand the lapse eve if he was not entirely comfortable with it.
When Ezra turned around, the first one to speak was Maude.
"Did you hear Ezra," her voice was full of hope begging for forgiveness. "Julia's alright. She'll live."
"Yes, I heard," Ezra nodded, giving his mother a look of tenderness he hope would dispel the harshness he had shown to her earlier. In the last few minutes, he had understood why she had done what she had. He remembered his fury when he saw Julia lying there on the floor of the jailhouse and knew that he had been a slave to his emotions when he started firing at the man, not stopping until he was dead. His mother had waited a better part of her life to avenge her husband and feeling the same anger and injustice that Ezra had felt briefly when he took Bosshard's life once and for all. He could not imagine what it must have been like for his mother and in that lack of understanding, appreciated why she behaved as she had. He knew that she would never consciously place Julia in harm's way and what had happened was just an unhappy set of circumstances which, fortunately, did not as conclude tragically as it could have.
Mother and son gazed at each other in a momentary exchange that the others in their company were discreet enough not to point out or interfere. In those few seconds, Maude's eyes softened seeing the forgiveness in her son's eyes as well as reassurance that things between them were right again. Even though she only smiled slightly at the understanding between them, inwardly she was weeping in relief. When she had saw Julia fall, Maude had been gripped with a terror at not only losing a friend but also causing the death of someone so precious to her son, a trespass she was certain he would never be able to forgive. She had sinned enough by keeping the truth about his father from him, a father whom he obviously wanted to know and perhaps live up to but never could because of her falsehoods. However, there was a chance now, a chance for her to repair the damage by giving him the truth and once this was all over, she would do that.
She would do it because Ezra deserved the truth and Peter deserved to have his son know it.
"Thank you Nathan," Ezra met the healer's eyes with gratitude.
"Don't thank me," the healer gestured towards the door. "Julia's the one who deserves most of the credit."
"Well she's a tough little lady." Josiah pointed out.
"I can attest to that," Ezra smiled at the tracker before returning his eyes to Nathan. "Can I see her?"
"She's not awake," Nathan pointed out. "She could be out for hours."
"I know," Ezra replied. "I would still like to sit with her."
"Sure," Nathan did not have to heart to say no to her and if it were him in Ezra's position, not even a healer's word would stop him from being at her Rain's side.
"I knew she'd make it," Buck patted Ezra on the shoulder as the gambler walked past.
Buck's smile was so wide across his face that it was impossible for Ezra not to feel its warmth flooding into him. However, there was one thing he had promised himself he would do if Julia were not taken from him today. He had left it too long already and had she died, he would have lost the chance to make things right between them, as he should have done long before this.
"Josiah," Ezra turned to the preacher. "I have something of an important request."
The others looked puzzled, wondering what could be so important at a time like this. Surely, Ezra's first thoughts would be Julia but as the gambler voiced what he required of Josiah, they were all very pleased with what the gambler had to say.
"Are you sure?" Chris asked, not wishing Ezra to make the decision on the spur of the moment, particularly after the day they have had. Emotions were running rife through all of them and as pleased that he was at Ezra wanting to do this, the leader in him still could not let go enough to allow Ezra to make a mistake if he was not ready.
"Absolutely," Ezra spoke with complete confidence. "I should have done it long before this. She deserves it."
"I agree," Chris cracked a rakish smile. "She does."
"We'll I'm not doing it," Vin said with a look of petulance about him. "Ain't it JD's turn now?"
"Because I don't got your hair," JD retorted and earned a little shove from the tracker in the process.
"I believe, I can handle it Mr. Tanner," Maude waded in smoothly before the conversation deteriorated any further. Besides, she was more than happy to participate in what she thought to be a long overdue decision by her son.
"Thank you mother," Ezra replied gratefully and noted Vin's sigh of relief with amusement.
"I'd be honored Ezra," Nathan stated softly, the tall man's eyes full of emotion.
Was it only three years ago they viewed each other with such hostility? It was amazing how they had both grown as friends and men to reach the point they found themselves in today. Ezra supposed their friendship had not merely been a learning experience for him and Nathan but for all the seven. Each in their own way had used their close bond to become more than they were originally and in that growth came a unification of their souls that still left all of them closely linked to one another, despite the love and families that had evolved around them.
It was good to know that after all this time, they were still seven.
The first thing that Julia noted when she awoke that she was still alive.
When the world poured through her eyes and reminded her in a tapestry of images swirling in on her brain that she was conscious, she had rather surprised by the fact. In too vivid detail, her last memory returned to her, flooding her thoughts with terrible pictures of Bosshard and Maude screaming, culminating in a single gunshot that made Julia gasp in fright, even if it was a memory in her head. She would have sat upright abruptly, if not for the terrible weight pressing down on her chest and this sharp serrated pain, which made itself, felt with each attempt at movement.
"Oh God." Julia whispered as waves of pain bombarded her relentlessly. It forced her to push her head back down on the soft pillow in the room, her mind was starting to recognize as Nathan's infirmary, in order for it to ebb away.
"Let that be a lesson to you," Ezra's voice spoke softly in her ear. "Don't move."
Instinctively, she turned her head in the direction of his voice and saw herself staring into sea colored eyes that sparkled slightly at contact with her emerald on. "Ezra," she said softly, her voice feeling little more than a squeak in her throat.
"Do not talk," he stilled her lips with his finger. "You need to save your strength. I..." he paused a moment as his own voice chose that particular moment to waver. "We," he said after a moment, "we almost lost you."
Julia could well believe it by the exhausted look of him. It appeared he had been sitting next to her bed for quite some time. His burgundy coat was hanging at the corner of this chair and his shirt was loose around the collar and his slip tie, hanging undone. His eyes seemed hollow with worry and Julia could tell by the redness that perhaps he might have shed a tear or two for her as well. His weary state kicked in her own impulses to make him feel better despite his condition. "You could never lose me," she smiled and then remembered something. "Is Maude alright?"
"Yes," he nodded, taking her hand in his and kissing it gently on the palm before holding it to his face. The smooth of her skin and its scent, all Julia, gave him strength. "She is fine. She is rather apologetic at the danger she placed both your lives but in all other aspects, my mother is in one piece. I think she might have even learnt something."
"Yeah," Julia winced as the pain throbbed in reminder. "Never try to help anyone, you get shot at."
Ezra chuckled a moment, thinking how much he loved her because she was so like him at times. "I am sorry for everything I have put you through these past months."
"Oh Ezra," Julia's eyes softened but there was also a hint of impatience in her voice.. "I told you before I love you. I love you no matter what. Whatever happens, we can face it together."
"I am glad you feel that way," his lips crooked into a smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks and for a second, Julia thought she might have been staring at the dapper southern gentlemen who had viewed her with such amusement when they first cast their eyes upon her. She had probably fallen in love with that smile then even though she had not dared to admit that any man could take her heart in those days.
"Marry me." He asked softly, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
"I thought I agreed to do that already," Julia remarked with a raised brow, as best as she could manage in her condition anyway.
"I mean right now." He clarified.
Julia's eyes widened. "You mean now, now?"
"Is there some difficulty?" Ezra stared at her.
"No," she shook her head. "I thought you wanted to wait..."
"I've waited enough," he said abruptly. "You were right and I should have trusted you. You were willing to marry me despite everything that has happened and I should have known better than to question you or myself in how we feel. I almost lost you today Julia and I would have done so without ever realizing that you mean more to me than any of the fears and traumas I have suffered of late. I should always known but it took seeing you almost taken away from me to understand. I do not wish to make that mistake again. Marry me Julia, marry me right now for I intend us to waste no more time."
Julia felt tears in her eyes as she swelled with emotion. She wanted nothing more than to be his wife and even if this was not the wedding she dreamed off, just being able to say the words to each other and meaning it would be enough for her. "Yes Ezra," she swallowed. "Yes."
And so it was, that Ezra and Julia were married on that day itself, with Chris giving the bride away as much as Chris could with Julia being bound to her bed. Maude took her place as the matron of honor since neither Vin nor JD wanted that distinction, even if Vin's hair did make him appropriate for the part while Nathan stood at Ezra's side as the best man. Josiah made the short ceremony all the more poignant with his eloquent words of love overcoming all obstacles and in Ezra and Julia's case it was certainly true.
As far as both the bride and the groom were concerned, a formal celebration with all their friends, most notably Mary and the rest of the women, could wait until things in Four Corners was right again, following the tumultuous events of the past days. For the moment however, they were man and wife and that seemed to be the only thing that mattered.
The butler's name was Carlisle and he had been in the household for the past twenty years.
Initially, he had been just another servant in the but through years of loyalty and unswerving service to his employer, he had been elevated to the head of the household staff. It was a great responsibility that he took very seriously and he commanded the staff the way a general sent troops into battle. The mansion was one of the finest in Philadelphia and the family to whom Carlisle was in service was almost as equally noted. Their name and their fortune demanded an image of austere opulence that the rest of Philadelphia society had no choice but to measure up to even though they almost always failed.
Of course lately, the family's prestige had taken a bit of bruising. Carlisle did not speak of these things himself because it was certainly not good form to do so but the inevitable chatter of the maids and the rest of the staff reached his ears and he took note of some of the gossip. In truth, Carlisle knew a great deal himself but he did not speak of it. After all, the issue was one of great sadness to the master. The man had doted on his daughter and how had she repaid him? She had run off after purportedly emptying a good deal of what was in her father's safe and jilting the man she was to marry on the eve of their wedding. The poor master had almost died from the shock and the scandal was rife for months, harming the family irrevocably.
Carlisle himself never thought much of young Julia. As far as he was concerned she was a capricious child full of questionable behavior, undeserving of her station in life. Carlisle could not imagine why the master had been going to such lengths to trace the girl when it was better for all that she remained hidden. Unfortunately, a father's determination could be unquenchable and in the case of Donald Avery, it was damn near inexhaustible. Carlisle was aware of the expense that the master had gone into hiring detectives to find the girl and most of them had been an exercise in futility, since none had ever produced any tangible results.
Like this one for instance, he thought as he gazed at the letter sitting on top of the others on the silver tray that he was bringing to the master's office. Although Carlisle was not prone to shifting through his employer's private correspondence, he could not help but notice the worn looking envelope whose origins were from somewhere in the heart of New Mexico, written by someone called Benjamin Bosshard. No doubt another fortune hunter seeking to take advantage of an old man's folly.
Miss Julia was gone. Why couldn't he just accept that?
The End