Matters To Me

Chapter 1

In a new world of hopes and dreams, met with disappointments and darkness of the real world, Billy held onto the hope that life would get better. It had to, as he looked at the stars, he made a wish, he knew that it had to get better.

~

Billy awoke to yelling outside and men on their horses.

He quickly got up and started putting on his suspenders.

"What is it?" Joe asked, awaking.

"Don't worry Joe, I'll go down and see."

Billy ran out and down the stairs, men passing him going up with rope, to see the commotion that was going on outside. He was stopped when he saw four nooses and men coming out with four chairs.

"PA!" a girl's voice screamed as men were being dragged out.

Three Mexicans and then another man. They fought against the men as they put the nooses around their necks as other men shouted for the sheriff.

"This one is going to send you to hell, you thieving bastard!" A man with a blonde beard growled, glancing back at Billy as he stepped away.

"There's the sheriff, here he comes," a man announced. "Whatcha gonna do, sheriff?"

"Not much you can do now, except let justice take its course."

The blonde bearded man nodded to the other men and kicked the chairs away from the men.

Billy watched in horror as the four men were hung in front of him, the sound of a child's screams filled his ears.

Suddenly everything went silent, like the world had gone mute. All he could hear was the ringing in his ear, and the beat of his heart in his chest.

He was pulled back to reality when he saw a little girl sobbing. He didn't know why he started walking towards her.

He stopped when he reached her and she looked up with tear-stained cheeks.

"They killed my Pa," she cried. "He was just trying to help them escape, all they wanted was food."

Billy looked back at the hanging men and then back at the girl.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I lost my Pa too."

She sniffled and looked up at him, her brownish-red hair in two braids.

"Was he hanged too?"

Billy shook his head. "He was sick."

"I'm sorry. Are you an orphan like me?"

"You don't have a Ma?"

The girl shook her head. "She died on the trail, some bandits shot at us."

"I'm sorry."

"You talk like my Ma."

"My family's from Ireland."

"So was my Ma, my Pa met and married her. They were traveling west to find gold."

"Did they find any?"

"Never gotta chance to look."

"I'm sorry. My name's Henry McCarty, but everyone calls me Billy."

"My name's Missie Bell."

Billy offered his hand for her to shake and she accepted, shaking it.

He then led her back into the inn where his Ma and brother were staying. He brought her to his Ma.

"Well, who do we have here Billy?" his Ma asked, kneeling in front of Missie and brushing her braid softly.

"I'm Missie, and they just killed my Pa for trying to help the Mexican men escape for stealing food."

"That's a lovely locket you've got there."

"It was my Ma's."

"And where's ya Ma at?"

"She's dead."

Ma sighed and looked at Billy. "Well, we have room for you, however, can you manage to help work here for room and board?"

Missie nodded.

~

Missie was adopted into the McCarty family, helping Joe and Billy along with Billy's Mexican friend Carlso with the work they did at the Inn for food and board. Carlos helped Billy and Missie to learn Spanish and the three often would escape into the night after work to a night full of games and gambling.

Even when one night Billy was down as Carlos and Missie were washing dishes telling them that his Ma was marrying an asshole and liar.

Missie couldn't hold it against Billy that his Ma was marrying the man, Antrin, who hung her father. Billy was just as upset about it as she was.
She often would sneak into his bed during the night, she had done it the first night that she had stayed with them. She was scared and Billy said she could stay with her. He sang her an Irish tune that reminded her of her mother and she fell asleep to the sound of his voice. From then on it had become a common reoccurrence. Joe never tattled, instead, he would join the two and Billy would read to them.

Tonight though she worried it might be her last as Billy's Ma was marrying Antrin tomorrow.

"We're not gonna leave you, I won't let it happen," Billy reassured.

"Ya promise Billy?" She whispered.

"I promise, you matter to me, I promise to marry you one day."

"Carlos said the same thing to me," she sighed.

"What?"

She shrugged. "He said he was going to marry me one day and I told him that I was marrying you, Billy."

~

She still remembered their first kiss.

Twas the night before Billy's birthday, she snuck into his room as he was reading by the candlelight. She suddenly felt nervous, he had grown up so much, into a young man, a handsome man. She wondered if he thought she had grown too, she had stopped wearing her hair in braids and instead wore it up like women do.

"I couldn't wait," she whispered, pulling the present from behind her back and offering it to him.

He smiled and got up from his bed and took it from her hands. He slowly opened it as she bit her lip with anticipation. He pulled out the deep burgundy knitted cardigan with a gray trim.

"I hand-made it myself, I hope it fits, I had to estimate the measurements," she fretted. "Well, do try it on."

He stared at it in his hands. "It's beautiful," he said, pulling it on and she sighed in relief when it fit.

"Oh good! It fits!"

She ran her hands across his shoulders, straightening it out and adjusting it on him.

"Happy birthday Billy," she smiled.

When he said nothing she stared at him. "Do you not like it?" she asked, worried.

He suddenly bent down and kissed her.

She was surprised but welcomed the kiss she had been desperately waiting for.

"I love it, just as I love you," he whispered.

She blushed as he kissed her again.

"And I love you, Billy."

The two kept their romance a secret, as they knew Antrim and his Ma wouldn't approve of two lovebirds being in the same house. It would be too temptatious as his Ma would say. However, Missie and Billy kept to their morals and only stole kisses in secret, promising each other that one day they would be married.

Of course happiness and peace could not last forever.