Protection

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“You’ll stay in the spare bedroom next to Bliss’ room. That way if any trouble comes about, you’ll be able to hear it.”

Bliss watched as her father led Mr. Slade back to where he would stay, but she remained seated. It began sinking in that it would more than likely be many months before she had her freedom back. From now on, Clint Slade stood in the gap where her liberty used to be. She wouldn’t be able to sneeze without him knowing, she wouldn’t be able to have a simple conversation with Colt anymore without Clint being privy to it.

All this with a man who acted as if he didn’t want to be friends with anyone. She would be completely miserable if they didn’t end up getting along.

“Are you okay, Bliss?” Grace asked from where she had been standing silently off to the side.

Bliss slouched down in her chair, crossing her arms and looking down the hall after the men.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled.

Grace sighed. “He’s definitely a peculiar man.”

Bliss pursed her lips and looked at Grace. “Very peculiar.”

“I know that look. What are you thinking?” Grace asked.

Bliss shook her head, but a million thoughts were raging through her mind.

She wasn’t going to be miserable for the entire time Clint Slade was here. She would carry on with her life as she normally did. If it was too much for him, then he could quit.

Then, a thought popped into her mind and blew up like dynamite, taking over her entire thought process.

What if he did quit?

*****

Clint threw his saddlebags with the only things he owned onto the bed in the corner of the guest room in the Cooper’s house. The window beside the bed gave him a perfect view of the same mesa that had led him here. It was strange how he could see the mesa from the house, but not the house from where he stood beneath it.

Taking off his hat he placed on a peg beside the bed and heaved a sigh. This wasn’t like his normal job. He didn’t even know what he was thinking when he accepted the job. There was only a slight chance that he could find the unknown person who threatened Miss Cooper’s life. What did he have to go on?

Nothing.

The more he thought about it, the stupider his decision became.

Clint felt he was losing his mind. If the dime novelists knew of this…

A knock came from the closed door to his right “Mr. Slade, supper’s on the table in five minutes,” the cook said from the other side.

“Thank you,” was all that Clint said.

　

Supper was a talkative occasion for the Cooper family, Clint found out.

Mr. Cooper was enveloped in one of his war stories that the rest of them didn’t seem very interested in.

“The fog was so thick you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face. I stood at the base of a tree line concealed by a tree trunk. Lo and behold, there was a Yank on that far rise. I settled my sights on the scalawag and…” Mr. Cooper held his hands up as if he were brandishing a rifle and paused for effect. “Bang!” he yelled.

Miss Cooper didn’t even flinch.

“He fell to the ground and two more came up in his place. I shot them, too. I was making my way through the hail of gunfire and the fog when suddenly, two of them burst out in front of me! I shot one and the second one stormed at me, throwing his fists as if wanting to crack my head open with his bare hands.”