Main Character: Ezra Standish
Rating: Rating: PG13, some language
Universe: Alternative Old West
Series: Home is Where the Heart Is
Disclaimer: I don't own them, don't sue. No money! I do not intend to make any money from this story or any of my other endeavors.
Comments: Read The Guilt Trip first. And please ask before you use any names or OMCs from my stories. Thanks!
It had been two weeks since Ezra Standish had returned from the dead.
At least, that's how the townsfolk thought of it.
Mary Travis was fit to be tied to have an interview with him, to find out where he had been and what he had been doing all those months he was missing.
He just figured that was his business. Well, his and the rest of the Seven.
He smiled over his fence railing that he was leaning on. He was watching his prize chestnut stallion play with his three pregnant mares. It was a sight he never thought he would see.
Him, Ezra P. Standish, a land owner. A home owner. Now a physical part of the community.
Ezra was still in his less flashy clothes. His dark blue jeans, his light blue shirt, his dark blue leather vest and his chin-strapped low crowned black hat.
Oh, not that the ladies minded the change in wardrobe. Inez had taken one look at him in blue jeans and had dropped a whole bottle of expensive scotch on the floor. Those jeans did things to her that his old tailored pants had never done. Buck had looked up when the bottle had shattered and heaved a sigh. Any chance he might have with Inez now seemed a thing of the past.
Ezra looked to the left of his corrals for his horses and saw the modest one-story ranch house with the wrap around porch and smiled even wider. It needed some work since it had been abandoned last year by the Yucka family. But he was up to it. His motto that a gentleman never debased himself with menial labor was a thing of the past when it came to his ranch.
Now, he was still a little slow to volunteer to sweat for anything else. He wasn't that crazy about sweat.
He heard sounds of a horse and looked up to see Vin Tanner riding toward him on his feisty black gelding. Ezra turned his back to the rails and leaned back with his left elbow on the top of the fence. Vin had helped him scout out the land before he decided to buy it.
Vin swung down and tied off his black. "You coming in tonight?"
Ezra nodded. "Yes, suh. Got to have a little money now and then to keep the ranch goin'." When he had been in Silverton, he had given up hard core gambling, but now that he was back in his old town he had decided to pick it back up again. Well, at least three nights a week. And he would make an exception if a particularly fat pigeon got off of the stage when he was in town.
And his Southern accent was back in full force after months of suppressing it.
Vin crooked a smile. "Chris says it's time you got your lazy Southern ass back to work."
Ezra laughed out loud and smiled back at Vin. Chris had given him a few weeks to look for land and get himself settled back in before making him take back up his position with the Seven.
"Inez is wonderin' when you're going to come by and help her with those glasses like you promised."
Ezra's smile turned to a pensive frown. When he had gotten back to town, Inez had been very ... there. Everywhere he went, there she was. She had finally cornered him one day and asked him to help her with the heavy boxes of beer mugs that she had just ordered. He had promised, but she was beginning to make him nervous. He was not used to being nervous.
"Well, Ah suppose Ah should not keep the lady waiting. If you see her, tell her Ah'll help her tonight before mah poker game."
Vin nodded. "Chris wants you back on the job in two days. He said he'd let you have the day shift until your foals come." Vin suddenly turned to Ezra. "You do know what to do when they come, don't you?"
Ezra's smile was back again. "Mr. Tanner, Ah have been on a horse ranch before. Ah wouldn't have picked this as a career if Ah didn't know what to do."
Vin nodded slowly. "Yeah, I bet you do."
The rest of the Seven had a few long talks about their Gambler since he got back. And only when he was out of town and out on his ranch.
First topic was how to make him stay this time. No going off in groups of two and leaving him behind. Second, was how easy he had disappeared off the map and convinced them that he was dead. Third, was the marvel that had been his life in Silverton.
Fourth was the fact that their Gambler truly was a gunfighter. Chris had explained in great detail the fight with Emy Nye in Silverton. Emery Nye was not slow when it came to his gun.
Ezra turned to Vin and broke his train of thought. "Mr. Tanner, are those the only reasons you came by for your visit?"
Vin smirked. He had used the same excuse for the past two weeks. Since the land that Ezra had purchased was not far from Nettie Wells, he always told Ezra that he was just dropping by on his way to visit his surrogate mother.
"You know, I was on my way to visit Nettie. Figured you were on the way." Vin smirked again.
Ezra smirked back. In these last two weeks, every one of his friends had been by at one time or another. Asking about his gunshot wound from Silverton, asking him if he needed any help with the work since he was a 'gentleman' and not used to it and even a few baskets of food from the hotel diner.
They guessed that since he was a bachelor and alone here at the ranch he would die of hunger. He hated to break it to them, but he'd been able to cook for himself since he was ten. His mother had demanded it of him.
"You know, Mothah will be very surprised at these turn of events, Mr. Tanner. She's always threatened to disown me if Ah ever got a 'regular' job and used mah own money to buy property again."
Vin's face suddenly drained of color. Ezra missed it since he was back to watching his horses cavort in the pen. He only knew that something was wrong when Vin suddenly grabbed his arm in a death grip.
"Mr. Tanner, whatever is the mattah?" asked Ezra in a concerned voice.
"Ezra ... your mother!"
"Yes?"
"She was here while you were gone. She thinks you're dead!"
Then it was Ezra's turn to lose his color. His vision swam for a moment and he had to clutch the rail a little tighter.
Good Lord!
"I'm so sorry, Ez. We thought you were dead. She came lookin' for you and we told her." Vin continued his grip on Ezra's arm. The man looked like he was about to faint. "You all right, Ez?"
Good Lord. His Mother. He had never really had a close relationship with his Mother, but she was his life. Even if he had never told her so. And he also thought that in her own way, Maude really did love him. He had never meant for her to be included in his con. He had every intention of picking up his letter correspondence with her as soon as he thought his cover was safe in Silverton.
"How ... how did she take it," he asked shakily.
Vin shook his head. "Not good, Ez. She spent two days at the church with Josiah and then left on the stage. She never even asked for your things."
Mothah had left his things behind? Not even asked that they be sold and the money sent to her? Not that they were there, he had already sent that telegram himself to get his horse back.
"Good Lord," he breathed. He stood there a moment more and then took out at a dead run to his small stable and dragged out his tack and quickly saddled up his buckskin that he had picked up during his 'death.' "You keep on to Mrs. Wells', Mr. Tanner. Ah'll see you in town later." And with that he was gone in a cloud of dust.
The other five of the Magnificent Seven were at their regular table when Ezra came into the saloon hard enough to make the batwings crack. All five went for their guns.
"Damn, Ez, you almost gave me a heart attack!" yelled JD.
Ezra didn't comment as he hurried over to their table and jerked out a chair. "How long ago was my Mothah here in town?"
The other men looked puzzled for a moment until Josiah groaned. "Oh God, she thinks you're dead!" Eyes widened in shock all around the table.
"Did she say where she was goin'? A town, a city?" asked Ezra anxiously. He turned to Josiah. "Mr. Tanner said that she spoke with you for two days. Did she say anythin'?"
Josiah laid a hand on Ezra's shoulder and shook his head slowly. "No, I'm sorry, son. She only asked for confession and spent some time at the altar. Nothing about her plans after leaving town."
Ezra balled up his two fists on the table top and then leaned over until his forehead was resting on them. The brim of his hat was bent back slightly from the pressure. He heaved in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. Josiah patted his back in comfort.
'I know mah Mothah,' he thought. 'She raised me for twenty years. I ran cons and scams with her for most of those twenty years. I know how she thinks. Where would she go?'
"Ezra?" asked Chris with some concern in his voice.
"Oh, gosh, Ezra, we're so sorry! We thought you were dead and she came ... and we had to tell her!" gushed out JD.
Ezra took out his right hand from under his head and lifted it in the air with a wave off. He needed to think, not talk right now. He laid the hand limply back on the table in front of his head.
He stayed that way for almost twenty minutes.
Even Inez came over to see what was happening. She looked at his friends, but they shook their heads at her. She chose to ignore them. "Ah, señor, are you all right?" Inez lightly touched the crown of his black hat.
He sat up slowly, a pensive look on his face. His intense light green eyes were distracted. "Most assuredly, senorita." He picked his hands up and flexed them for a moment and then turned to look up at her. "Ah'll be glad to help you with those boxes that you mentioned earlier."
She led him to the back room which served as her storage. On the floor sat three huge boxes with St. Louis addresses on them.
"Ah, you always get the best, my dear."
She flashed him a smile. "If you would, senor, please put one on the boxes on the table so I can unpack the glasses."
He nodded and bent down and lifted the box up to the table. Inez found his form fascinating and his strength amazing. She would not have expected it from him, being one of the smallest and most refined of the Seven.
Ezra's thoughts were far away, thinking of his mother. He didn't see the desire kindle in Inez's eyes or the way she was eyeing his body. He turned to tell her that he would help unpack the box when he felt her arms go around his shoulders and her lips press to his.
Fire went through him. His own lips parted and let her questing tongue into his mouth to touch his own. His own arms went around her and pulled her body closer to his.
And then a shock went over him and he remembered. Remembered other lips that had touched his and the night of passion they had shared. The night that kept repeating over and over in his dreams and hopes.
He gently untangled himself from Inez and stood back, breathing hard. "Ah'm ... Ah'm sorry, Inez. Ah just can't ... "
She hung her head. "What you must think of me, señor, throwing myself at you."
He moved forward again and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Ah think you're a kind and caring woman, Inez. Ah think you're a lady who's a great friend to have. It's not your fault that you're lonely. Everyone gets lonely sometimes."
She looked up with her dark eyes. "Are you lonely, senor?"
He dropped his hand from her shoulder and sighed. Oh, how he was lonely. "Yes, Inez, Ah'm so damn lonely."
He sank down until he was sitting on the edge of the table and she leaned back against the shelves. He looked at her for a moment and then nodded to himself. Ezra reached under his shirt and pulled out a chain. On the chain was a delicate little gold band with one round jade jewel at the center.
"This is why Ah'm so lonely, Inez. Ah'll probably never see her again, but Ah had to buy this ring." He looked down at the ring with tears in his eyes. "Every night Ah go to bed wishing she was here and every morning Ah get up hoping she's all right where evah she is."
Inez was still upset. She wanted him, but it was not to be. But right now, he was in pain. Deep pain and she wanted to help him.
"Señor, maybe the impossible will happen one day. Maybe you will see your señorita again. Until then, you have your friends and your ranch." She laid a hand on his jaw and neck and raised his face, knowing that it would be the last time she would be able to touch him so intimately.
He reached up and laid his hand over hers, "Ah'm so sorry, Inez. Are we still friends?"
She flipped her hand until she was holding his. "Yes, señor, I'm still your friend. I always will be."
They held hands and were quiet for a while. Inez sunk into a meditative peace that centered around his warm hand in hers. His voice startled her out of it.
"Buck loves you, you know."
She nodded her head. "I know, and just like you, I don't want to hurt him by not returning his feelings. I just don't care for him in that way."
He looked at her. "Be careful, Inez. Study on it very carefully. Sometimes what you think you feel and what you really feel are two different things."
He squeezed her hand. "Let's get these glasses put away before our friends decide we're up to no good in here." He smiled at her and she smiled back.
Ezra put his mind to his mother the next day. He had pressed Josiah hard about what his Mother had talked to him about, but no more information was forthcoming. He sent several telegrams to places she stayed when she was running a high class con.
Nothing.
Good Lord, was he going to pay in spades for this. She would never let him live it down.
The rest of the Seven might not know this, but he did have friends in other places. He just didn't mention them. Oh, he wrote to them occasionally. Even had a few visit him, but he had never let on.
Now he contacted them. He put the word out that he needed to speak to his mother or at least telegram her a message that he was alive. Better yet, a face to face meeting to tell her he was sorry that he had put her through that with his con.
The only contact he got back was from Cassie Barlow, a gunfighter/rancher, who just happened to be in Kentucky on his way to visit his in-laws with his wife Gwenith. The telegram was brief, but it indicated that Cassie had seen Ezra's mother on the train heading toward Georgia.
He puzzled over that as he went across the street to start his first day back at work as a peacekeeper. As usual, Chris Larabee wanted him in the saloon with his ear to the latest gossip.
Ezra took a moment at the bar to pick up a whiskey and pass a few moments with Inez, when he heard a loud voice from above. He looked up at his old gambling table and saw a man with light red hair and a pock marked face holding court with the other players.
"And who might that be, my dear?" he asked Inez.
She snorted. "Stupid man. He came in here yesterday. Last name's Sweet. I don't know his first name. Wanted me to be his personal 'lady' for the night. I set him straight real fast with my shotgun."
Ezra also snorted. Inez was really fast with her shotgun when she needed to be. "Let me know if he causes you any more trouble."
"No trouble, señor. He knows his manners now. If he doesn't, I'll have to remind him."
Ezra wandered away from the bar with his second whiskey and lazily watched the crowd. He recognized a lot of regulars from the town and a few from the outlaying ranches and farms. He had planned on a game tonight, but thought it best to focus on business tonight. After all, it was his first day back as a lawman.
He felt a sudden prickle as if someone was watching him and he quickly scanned the crowd again. Nothing.
Ezra slid over to the table the Vin Tanner was sitting at alone. Chris was out on patrol today.
"Ah, Mister Tanner. Ah find mahself in a bind, if you would be so kind?"
Vin dipped his hat. "What'cha need, Ez?"
"Someone is watching me. Ah'm going to look this way. You look that way. Is that satisfactory for you?" he asked as he sat facing the opposite way from Vin.
Vin smiled easily. "That's fine, Ez. Hey, how's the hunt going for yer Ma?"
Ezra rolled his eyes. "Not well. Not well at all. Ah got word that she was headed to Georgia. Why, only the Good Lord knows." He pulled out the wires he had received from his friends and laid them on the table. "No one else has seen her."
"Well, keep at it, Ez. I'm sure she'll be right glad to know you're still alive."
Ezra raised one shoulder and downed his whiskey. He surveyed the people in front of him and then felt the prickle again. "Mister Tanner, Ah feel eyes on mah person."
Vin gave a quick look around his direction. "I don't see no one, Ez."
Ezra shrugged his shoulder to rid himself of the sensation. "Nevertheless, someone is watching mah person. Ah, for one, do not care for it." He slowly gave the room a sweeping glance. "But, like you, Ah see no one."
Vin settled in his chair and brought his right hand to his awesome gun. "Maybe we should tell Chris?"
Ezra shook his head. "About what, Mr. Tanner, that Ah've got an itch on mah back? No, we're seen no one so far. Let's wait until Ah have a little more to go on than a sensation."
Vin nodded reluctantly. They had just gotten Ez back from Silverton. He didn't relish losing him again to some unknown force. Even if Ez had proved that he was a fast gun, sometimes a bullet could come from the back.
Vin pushed up from his seat and deftly swiped the telegrams that Ezra had lay on the table. "I'm gonna go see Chris about somethin'. You keep an eye on yer back while I'm gone." He gave the gambler/rancher a shove on his shoulder and left with a sweeping glace over the saloon's floor.
Ezra smirked at the thinly veiled attempt at subterfuge on Vin's part. Ezra knew he was going straight to Chris with his feeling of being watched. In some ways, it warmed his heart to know that they cared enough to watch out for him. He had also seen the slight of hand that took his telegrams. Oh, well, he wasn't ashamed of his friends from his past.
He was still lost in thought when a chair at his table was pulled out and Nathan sat. Ezra was startled to say the least. Of the other Seven, Nathan Jackson was the most distant from the Southerner. He seemed glad in the beginning that Ezra was back, but slowly went back to picking on Ezra's habits again.
So it was a shock when Nathan hesitantly held out a familiar object to Ezra.
It was his discarded derringer rig that had been bent out of shape during the blast that had started this whole thing.
And the surprising thing was, it was whole. The metal straightened and the leather straps repaired or replaced. It gleamed with a new coat of oil.
"Now that you back in town, thought maybe you might need this again during your lawing and gambling," said Nathan in a soft voice. An apologetic voice.
Ezra looked down at the offering. "Thank you, suh."
Nathan looked around, suddenly embarrassed for approaching the gambler. "All right, I'll see you later." With that he was up and out of the saloon.
Huh, would wonders never cease? He would pack the rig away with his derringer when he went back to his ranch.
"Chris."
Chris looked up as he swung down in front of the jail, just finishing his trek around the town's outskirts. He saw Vin leaning up against the doorway of the jail.
"Yeah?"
"I think we got trouble and some interestin' dirt on Ez." Vin could read just enough now to know names. And he knew most of the names on the telegrams.
Chris hopped up on the boardwalk and walked with Vin into the darker and cooler interior of the jail. "What?"
Vin held out a handful of telegrams. "I kinda swiped these from Ez in the saloon. And he's got somebody watchin' him."
Chris' eyebrows went up as he read the names out loud on the telegrams. "Hat Borders, Cassie Barlow, Brace Silas, Judge Riddock. Hell, these are some of the fastest guns past the Mississippi. How in the world does Ezra know these fellas?"
Vin shook his head. "That Barlow fella used to be a bounty hunter. He's a good tracker."
Chris shook his head. Even he wasn't in the same class as Hat Borders. "Well, we'll keep an eye out for Ez. Pass the word around."
Vin just nodded.
Ezra moved from the table he shared with Vin to a table near the wall to protect his back. He sipped his whiskey and contemplated life.
That's how Josiah found him. He sat at the table without an invitation and with a serious look on his face. "You want to talk about it?"
Ezra raised one shoulder. "Talk about what, Mr. Sanchez?"
Joshiah swatted that away like a fly. "The fact that you tried to kill yourself at the ridge. Standing up in front of those guns and then blowing yourself up. I could see it in the way you stood. You didn't mean to come out alive."
Ezra snorted. "Josiah, Ah didn't expect to live through the experience, but Ah was hardly suicidal. Ah just reasoned that six was a better number than one."
Josiah shook his head. "Are you over it now?" he asked, completely ignoring Ezra's answer.
Ezra looked at him steadily. When he had been found in Silverton, he reclaimed his emotions from the dark void his mother had put them. So when he answered Josiah, it was with his emotions in his eyes. "Yes, Josiah. Ah'm ovah it now."
Josiah nodded to himself. "Good, good. We just got you back. I wouldn't want to find you dead one morning."
Ezra shook his head. "No. Ah have too much to live for now."
Lucas Sweet sat at the raised gambling table and looked for his quarry. Pete, the baretender in Silverton has assured him that the killer of Emy Nye was really Ezra Standish. And Standish was here in this town. Lucas had already spotted the man twice in the crowded saloon.
'Damn bastard,' thought Lucas. Emy had been a good friend of his.
And no one was a better gun than Emy. The bastard must have cheated to win.
Ezra Standish would get his and get it soon.
Two days later, Ezra got a telegram from his mother. It was in Greek, one of her favorite languages for the telegraph.
Ezra's heart almost stop beating. The telegram was so businesslike and cold. It hurt him to the quick that she would not come to met with him face to face until the spring.
And she made it very clear that his ranch was not a good idea. 'Quaint', indeed.
Buck was on duty as Ezra's watcher today. That feeling of being watched had never gone away and it concerned all of the Seven.
Chris was worried that Ezra would be caught off guard with this mess of finding his mother. And Ezra had yet to put back on his two extra guns since coming back from Silverton. Chris was afraid he wouldn't be prepared for whatever that was watching him.
Chris didn't know how right he was.
Lucas Sweet saw the gambler named Ezra Standish mounting a buckshin horse and quickly mounted his own horse to follow.
Ezra moved down the well-worn path that would take him back to his ranch so he could do a midday check on his mares. But his mind was still on his mother.
Did she really love him? Did he love her after all? He didn't know and it confused him.
It was this confusion that almost got him killed.
Lucas Sweet saw his chance and took it. He pulled his gun and aimed it at the cheater's back and fired.
The only thing that saved Ezra was the fact that Buck decided to shadow him back to his ranch for safety's sake. Buck saw the gun come up and kicked his horse into a gallop and rammed the man's horse, throwing off the shot aimed at Ezra.
Ezra reined his horse around and pulled his Remington. Once Buck was partially out of his way, he returned fire at the red headed man. His gun shy buckskin made it difficult to get a good bead on the man and he erred on the side of caution and missed wide because of Buck. Buck was still in the mix with the red headed man that seemed to want Ezra dead.
"Cheater!" shouted Sweet. "No one could take Emy Nye in a fair fight!"
Buck tried to get his own bead on the man, but they were so close and the horses milling around one another, that he might as well use his gun as a club. Which is exactly what he did.
Lucas Sweet was knocked from his horse to lie in the dirt cursing Buck. Buck was about to go for him when Ezra called out. "No, Buck. Ah'll see to him."
Ezra got down from his horse and moved away from it to keep it out of the line of fire. "You think Ah'm a cheater? Then prove it." Ezra reholstered his Remington and stood at the ready.
Sweet stood up slowly and brushed his clothes off. He wasn't as fast as Emy, but he was pretty fast. He could take the cheater, that much he knew. "All right, cheater. I'll put you in the ground so's Emy can rest."
They stood for a moment, looking into one another's eyes. Sweet blinking and Ezra said, "Do it."
Sweet pulled his gun and was shot dead in the center of his chest. He gasped and dropped as he frothed blood at his mouth.
Ezra rushed forward and Buck leaped down from his horse. Ezra knelt down by the man and tried to get him to talk before he died. "Are you alone? Who told you I killed Emy Nye?"
Sweet shook his head slowly. "Pete. Pete told me. And I'm alone. For ... now. There ... will be ... others. Put Lucas Sweet on my marker." With that pronouncement, Sweet gave up the ghost.
"Damn," swore Ezra as he got up. He punched out all his empties. His last bullet had taken Sweet to the Good Lord for judgement.
Buck shook his head. "You mean you faced him with only one bullet in your gun."
Ezra didn't smile. "One was all I needed."
Buck might have been his friend, but that comment made him shudder.
"I'm telling you, Chris, he's fast. Real fast. I don't even know if you could take him."
Chris shook his head. "Yeah, he beat Emy Nye and this Sweet fella, but me? I don't think so. I'll give it to him that he's fast with his gun, but not that fast."
Buck shrugged. "All right. I told you. Just don't get him mad. I know I won't." He turned to watch as Ezra dropped Lucas Sweet's body by the undertaker's for burial. "I for sure won't."
Next: The Return of Love
The End
February 10, 2003
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