Redemption

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

“I don’t see why she would be getting off here.”

Myra listened as her husband and the stagecoach driver conversed over the whereabouts of her daughter’s departure from the stagecoach.

“I tell you she did. She was a peculiar sort of girl, that Jessie Steele,” Sam Goody shook his head as he spoke.

“How do you mean?” Jacob asked.

“Well, she wanted to ride shotgun. I ain’t never heard of a woman wanting to ride shotgun. When I refused to allow it, she rode on top, asking me fifty hundred questions. She wanted to know if I’d heard of the Dottie Belle Ranch before. I told her that I had, and that I knew the owner of it. She asked so many questions I can’t even remember. When we made a stop at this little station, I told her that the Dottie Belle was about five miles in that direction,” Sam pointed west. “The next thing I knew, she was gone. She just vanished without as much as a goodbye. She didn’t have any luggage at all, but you could tell that she was a young lady with a purpose.”

“You let an eighteen year old girl walk off alone and didn’t even volunteer to look for her?” Jake asked, clenching his fists.

“We looked all around here for her. I guess she bought a horse and rode off to find the Dottie Belle,” Sam shrugged.
“Jess didn’t have any money on her, and she isn’t one to steal,” Jake informed him. “So that means you let an eighteen year old girl walk off in the middle of the Arizona dessert without as much as a horse. She could’ve died from a heat stroke and we don’t even know. Don’t you have any sense, man? It’s so hot out here the cows probably have to blow off the grass before they eat it and you don’t have the sense enough to think of what the weather could do to a young lady alone? I outta…”

“Jake,” Myra put a hand on her son’s arm and pulled him aside while Jacob continued talking to Mr. Goody.

Jake shook her hand from his arm. “That’s a stupid man over there, Momma.”

“I know how angry you are. Believe me, I am too. However, that’s all in the past and we can’t change that now. Chewing that man up one side and down the other isn’t going to change how things are. Let’s keep our heads.”

Jake bit his lower lip and looked out over the land that surrounded them, refusing to look in her eyes. “There’s no telling what’s happened to her,” he said.

Myra sighed. “I know. Let’s just get the information out of Sam Goody as soon as we can so we can continue the search for her. There’s always the hope that she’s okay.”

Jake rubbed his forehead and looked at the ground.

Myra understood his need to protect his sister, and she felt it on even a greater scale.

Lord, please help us find her soon. Help us to find her safe. We’ve just about used up all of our strength.

“Myra!” Jacob called. “He knows how to get to the Dottie Belle Ranch!”

*****

“Bliss, this is Jessie Steele. Jessie, this is Bliss Slade,” Colt introduced.

Jessie smiled at the woman in front of her, glad to finally be able to put a face to the name. She was a beautiful woman, with rich blonde hair and dark brown eyes, not to mention that bright smile that seemed to be drenched in happiness.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jessie said, dipping in a curtsey as well as she could with her crutches.

“Likewise. Colt explained the whole situation to me on the way over here, and I have to admit that I never expected you to look this well after all you’ve been through,” Bliss told her.