He ignored John Sr. when the man turned to glare at him. He kept his eyes on Bekker.
“You came here for a duel; that’s what you’ll get. But you’ll follow the rules, just like Pa said. Get your men out of the way.” He turned to quickly look at the ranch hands. “Alex! Jack! Go up on the porch with Flo.” He looked back to Bekker, who was staring at him resentfully but not making a move.
“You!” He pointed at Bekker. “Take yourself over there. Ten paces, turn and shoot. You know the rules. I’ll moderate. You!” He pointed up to two of Bekker’s men. “You two get down from those horses. Tie them to those trees over there. You stand on that side. We will stand on this side. We’ll be watching and remember - there are more of us than there are of you. You try anything and you’ll be shot on the spot. You understand me?”
The men didn’t respond with nods or verbally. They just dropped from their saddles and did as they were told without question. Johnny’s first thought was that they must be reliable help for Bekker. They probably did anything and everything he asked them to do.
Johnny watched as the men all did as they were told. He turned to his father.
“If you’re going through with this, Pa, I’m gonna make sure it’s done right. And if he kills you, just know I won’t rest until he’s six feet under or hanging from the gallows. I will kill him, Pa.”
John Sr. nodded, his eyes directly on his son. “I know you will avenge me, my boy. I’m hoping you won’t have to. I may have a lame leg, but I don’t have a lame arm and my shot is as good as it ever was. And I’m a pretty good shot.”
Johnny was encouraged by his father’s words but could only manage to smile with his eyes. “I’m proud to be your son. I don’t want to lose you now. But I want you to know I love you, Pa. You’ve been the best father a boy could ever ask for. I don’t believe Bekker is gonna kill you. But I need you to know that.” He put his hand on his father’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m proud of you, Pa.”
John Sr. nodded. “I’m proud of you, too, my boy. Always have been. But he won’t kill me. I’m a faster draw.” He grinned. “One of the things he always hated about me.”
“So Juan Rivera was the other survivor in the raid that was eliminated that Bekker led?”
John Sr. lost his smile, nodding again. “He was my best friend. Bekker tortured him because he was Mexican but was fighting for our side. He hated him. I tried my best to protect Juan. But Bekker got to him when I wasn’t there and…” He shook his head, lowering it, his eyes closed.
“Use that, Pa. Use that to make this draw the quickest you’ve ever done in your life.” Johnny pressed his Smith & Wesson in his father’s hand. “Use this. There’s a bullet in the chamber. You like this gun. That’s why you gave it to me.” John Sr. nodded, taking it with a grateful look and handing over his rifle.
“Can’t exactly duel with this.”
Johnny glanced over to see that Bekker was staring at them, waiting with an impatient, angry look on his face. “You,” Johnny said, pointing at him. He turned his hand over and beckoned the former army captain with the same finger. “Let’s do this.”
Bekker’s chest puffed up and he walked to them.
“We’re gonna do this the old-fashioned way. Back to back.”
Johnny stepped back. Inside, he was a bundle of nerves. He swallowed hard and made sure his face didn’t show how nervous he was.
When his father and Bekker were back to back, pistols raised by their heads, Johnny stepped back again and then began to walk backwards. His heart was pounding. He had to keep himself from trembling. He knew his father was a good shot. But maybe Bekker had improved over the years. Maybe Johnny was about to lose the most important man in his life.
“Ready.” He called out.
“Ready!” Both Bekker and John Sr. repeated the word at the same time.
“Set! Go! One… Two… Three…”
Johnny shouted out the numbers with every step the men took. He had to force his voice to remain steady, and that any emotions he felt were buried as far down as he could push them.
Finally, he reached ten. He couldn’t hesitate saying the number because it might throw his father off. He shouted the number, sucked in his breath and held it.
Both men turned and shot.
Bekker fell to the ground.
Johnny blew the air from his lungs in a shaky fast breath, forming his mouth into an O. Before he could relax he turned to Alex and Jack, who were already running down from the porch. “Go get them!” he yelled, pointing at Bekker’s men, who were dashing to their horses. He was glad they hadn’t tried to fight it out or shoot his father in revenge. They had nothing invested in Bekker’s death, he assumed. But they had helped burn his barn down and one of them had killed Kit. They would pay.
He ran to Bekker to make sure the man was dead.
Bekker was lying on his side, the arm on top flopped behind him. The hand holding the gun was on the ground, his fingers still wrapped slightly around the pistol grip. Johnny reached down and yanked the gun from his hand, sliding it away from them.
His father was behind him moments later and Johnny stood up to pull him into a tight hug. He denied the tears that streamed down his face.
“Pa. Pa.” He knew he sounded like a little boy again. His father was chuckling, patting him on the back.
“I’m all right, son. I’m all right. Stop this nonsense. I’m all right.”
Johnny heard the love in his father’s voice but managed to push through his emotions and stop his crying. The next moment, Flo was on top of them both, though she was smaller. She flung herself at them and they pulled her into a three-person hug.
“I’m so glad you are okay, Pa,” Flo said, surprising Johnny. He looked at her and then at his father, whose smile stretched from one ear to the other. He didn’t look surprised, though. In fact, he was looking at Johnny as if to see his reaction. Johnny assumed Flo had been calling him “Pa” for a while now. He wondered how long they had been bonding behind his back.
The humor of the situation was not lost on him. He smiled at them both. “Let’s get back to the porch. I think if I don’t sit down, my legs might give out.”
His father and Flo seemed to agree, though Flo’s eyes dropped to the fallen military man-turned-outlaw. “What are we gonna do about him? We can’t leave him here to rot, though he’d probably make good compost.”
“Nah,” Johnny said, shaking his head. “Everything that grew from that would be rotten.”
John Sr. grinned at them both. “Or poisonous.” He turned his eyes to Flo. “We’ll have a couple ranch hands gather him up and take him to town. They’ll go to jail and he’ll go to the undertaker.”
“I’ll go get someone, Pa,” Johnny said. “You and Flo go on in.”
Flo nodded, putting her hand on the older man’s arm. “I’ll make you something to eat. Maybe get you some coffee.”
“You’re sweet, honey,” John Sr. replied putting his hand on hers. “But I think I need something maybe a little stronger than that.”
Flo threw her head back and laughed. “Yes. Me, too.”
She did look extremely tense. She looked at Johnny before they walked away and said, “We’ve got to talk, Johnny.”
His chest tightened with anxiety. He’d never heard those words from anyone, male or female, and had it turn out to be a good thing. He nodded, his eyes widening. The smile on her face was teasing. He turned from them, hoping it would turn out the way he wanted and wishing he could go in with them for a drink too.
He knelt by the body. Gary was the first one behind him. He looked up at the man.
“I guess he got what he wanted,” Gary said, going around to the other side and kneeling to stare at the outlaw.
Johnny gave him a confused look. “What do you mean? He’s dead.”
“He came here for a duel. He had to have expected it would end like this. He had plenty of chances to do this before and hasn’t. It’s been years since your pa had anything to do with thi
s man. I never thought I’d see him again. He gave your pa a lot of trouble for a while there.”
“I didn’t know that.” Johnny couldn’t help feeling a little resentful that the ranch hand knew more about the situation than he did.
Gary shook his head. “You wouldn’t. Your pa tried to keep that part of his life out of yours. I only know because I was there one of the times this man confronted him several years ago.”
Johnny nodded. “I see.”
“You were better off not knowing anything, Johnny. Trust me. You wouldn’t have allowed him to keep threatening your pa. John knew that. But there’s something else John also knew.”
“What’s that?”
Gary grinned. “He knew he was a better and faster shot. The only way Bekker would get the jump on him is if he allowed someone else to do the shooting. I guess Bekker finally got tired of it all, and maybe he’s been practicing or something that made him think he had a chance. But I’ll be honest with ya, Johnny. I’m glad it’s over. Your pa can live the rest of his life in peace. And when you and Flo get married, you’ll give him some beautiful grandchildren to play with. He can finally be happy. I gotta say… that makes me happy, too.”
Johnny swallowed his emotions. “Thanks for telling me, Gary.”
Chapter 32
The two sat side by side on the porch swing, later that night, listening to the crickets and the small critters skittering through the woods around them. The moonlight was so bright it lit up the earth as if it was a white sun.
Flo pressed herself against Johnny, enjoying his warmth, the musky scent he always wore, the love she felt coming from him. Mrs. Fitzpatrick was right. She needed to take the chance and just tell him. Her stomach turned nervously. Her heart trembled in her chest. She tried not to show it on the outside but she couldn’t help it.
She was still worked up from what had happened before the sun went down. It had seemed like it went so fast. Those ten seconds… those ten steps…
She’d stood on the porch with Alex and Jack on either side, her hands over her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes. The whole time, she had only been able to look at John Sr. She imagined how she would feel if she never saw him again.
Since almost the beginning of her “courtship” with Johnny, she’d started calling his father “Pa”. She was somewhat surprised Johnny hadn’t heard it before but she could tell by the look on his face earlier that it was unexpected.
“I hope…” She hesitated before continuing. “I hope you don’t mind that I started calling your father Pa. I… Well, he asked me if I wanted to. He kind of said, you can call me Pa if you want. He sounded… casual. But I think it really made him feel good.”
Johnny turned his head and rested his chin on the top of her head. It amused her when he did that. It wasn’t the first time for that either.
“I’m sure it did. You don’t know how many earfuls I took about Marian.” He chuckled. It was such a warm, pleasant sound. Flo loved hearing it.
She wanted nothing more than to make their engagement real. They were so close together. How could he not see how she was feeling? Mrs. Fitzpatrick was certain he was in love with her. She said even Mr. Fitzpatrick could see it. So why was she so nervous? Why didn’t she just tell him?
“I… I’ve been thinking about this courtship thing,” she forced herself to say. She felt him stiffen slightly. She couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking. It made her even more nervous. But she had to forge ahead. She had to. She couldn’t live like this anymore.
She pushed herself off him and turned her body to face him. She studied his handsome face, her love for him pulsing through her body, her blood racing through her veins.
“I think we should give it a proper go. I mean, we’re good friends; we’ve always gotten along well, even when we argue, and we don’t give up on each other. I really think we should… try. What do you think?”
Johnny looked stunned. He swallowed and looked away from her. That made her even more nervous. Maybe Mrs. Fitzpatrick was wrong. Maybe Mr. Fitzpatrick didn’t see what he thought he saw.
“I… I don’t know, Flo. I mean, is that what you really want? It seems to me like you could… have so much better. Look what I did. I manipulated everyone. I tried to make things go the way I wanted. I was willing to let you be humiliated. “
“I think it’s what we should do,” Flo said, her voice becoming weak, which frustrated her. “I mean, everyone expects it. We’ve been best friends for about six years…”
“Longer than that,” he interjected.
She nodded, a little of her hope resurfacing. “Yes, even longer. I mean, when I first got here to Hot Springs, I had a lot going on. I had to get settled. But you were the first friend I made and then, when we started really doing things together, our friendship just grew and grew. Right? Think about all the people who would be shocked and disappointed if we didn’t actually marry. I think we’d get along just fine.”
Johnny nodded, returning his beautiful eyes to her face. She felt another surge of love flow through her when their eyes connected. “Yeah, we do. But marriage is totally different. We’d be spending all our time together. I mean, all of it. And what about the… other parts of marriage that…”
Flo giggled, surprised that Johnny was having trouble talking about the other aspects of marriage. They’d always been open with each other. Though they had never talked about that before. That was something reserved for people who were really in love and united in the eyes of God. They’d never had a reason to talk about it.
“Look,” she continued, trying to reason with him. “We’re both at the age where it’s time for us to settle down. You don’t have anyone else you’re interested in anymore. Your pa never wanted you with Marian. And I know we are good for each other. Your pa wasn’t the only one who didn’t want you with her. I always knew she wasn’t the woman for you.”
“So you told me a million times,” Johnny said, amusement in his voice.
She grinned at him. “Yes. I did. And I’m telling you now, it’s… it’s expected. We should just give everyone what they want.” It was certainly what she wanted. How could she convince him? What were the perfect words to make him understand? “I really care about you. I think we can make everyone very happy.”
“Have you told your parents anything? Have you talked to them?”
Flo was caught off guard by the question. “What?”
Johnny blinked at her. “Your parents. Have you told them?”
She frowned, resentment filling her. “Why would I tell them? What would make you think I would? I told you I haven’t talked to them. Why would that have changed since the last time we talked about this?”
Johnny shook his head. “I don’t know. I just… figured you would have told them something by now.”
“I have no reason to tell them anything.” Her resentment was quickly dissolving into anger. She had come out on the porch feeling good. Feeling happy and in love. Now, all she could feel was the rage she’d built up over the years against her parents.
They had treated her like garbage to be disposed of in the waste bin. If they cared about her, they would have come to visit. They knew Hot Springs was close to Austin. They knew she loved the little town she was living in and didn’t want to live in Austin. But they were so close and felt so far away.
She shook her head. “I have no reason to talk to them. They don’t care about me. They haven’t for a long time or they would have shown it. I’m just an expense to them. Probably stopped them from having the life they wanted until I was old enough to leave. I was a mistake. Plain and simple.”
It was Johnny’s turn to look angry. He narrowed his eyes and pulled his eyebrows together, frowning.
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