Fatherhood

No one

A man in a black vest and trench coat rides up to the door of the green house in the middle of a town called Dewberry. People look at him shocked and disgusted by the fact that he has dirt on his clothes and blood under his nails.
"Jeremy Clintwood! I'm looking for Jeremy Clintwood!" Yells the man. "He's got a bounty on his head and I'm here to collect!" The man gets off his horse and binds it to a post. A Schofield revolver on his right hip and a shotgun hanging over his shoulder. The man starts walking towards the door. "Jeremy! Get your hillbilly ass out here!" People start gathering around the house whispering to one another. "Who do you think you are mister?!" Yells a voice from inside the house. "You know exactly who I am Jeremy! Get out here now!" A man with a big mustache and chubby cheeks walks out the door with a Winchester Repeater in his hands. "Well Well! If it ain't our beloved do gooder!" "I'm here for you Jeremy, don't make this hard on yourself!" The man in the door looks at the bounty hunter and starts laughing. "Ha! You think you can kill me boy?" "I sure as shit can Jeremy!"

The bounty hunter draws his Schofield Revolver and fires, but misses Jeremy's head and shoots off his hat. Jeremy immediately fires back and hits the bounty hunter in his shoulder. "That's what you get boy! Men take this body out of town and dump it in the forests!"

The bounty hunters unconscious body gets dumped in the forest, robbed of his money and guns. "Come one Cletus, this one will rot here!" The two men start laughing and walk away. Hours and hours pass when the bounty hunter suddenly hears a voice. "Mister? You alright mister? You're shoulder don't look good! Come on, let's get you somewhere safe!" The bounty hunter tries to mumble and communicate but falls unconscious again once the stranger has him on his feet. "Come on mister!"

The bounty hunter wakes up in a bed, he smells all sorts of smells and hears all sorts of sounds. "Whe...where am I?" The bounty hunter sits up straight and feels a blast of pain through his shoulder. "Shit!" The bounty hunter looks at the door and sees a young girl, maybe twenty, twenty one years of age. "You okay mister?" Asks the girl. "Yes ma'am I'm alright, little bit of pain is all." The girl sits next to the bounty hunter and takes off his bandages. "Come these things are dirty let's get you some new ones." The girl takes the bandages off and gasps. "Everything okay?" The bounty hunter looks back and sees the girl staring at his shoulder. "Miss? You okay?" "Oh yes sir! How'd you get by these wounds?" The bounty hunter becomes silent and softly says "An accident." The girl walks to a medicine cabinet on the wall and takes a new roll of bandages out of it. "You the ones been taking care of me miss?" The girl turns around and smiles. "No sir, that's not my job, I usually cook and tend to the children on the ranch, usually the ranch hands take care of the ones we bring in." The bounty hunter inhales in amusement and giggles a little. "What's your name girl?" The girl turns her head to the bounty hunter and hesitates. "My name's Mary-Anne sir. What's yours?" The bounty hunter looks over his shoulder and smiles a little. "I don't have a name Mary-Anne." Suddenly the door flies open and a man with a big unkept beard walks in. "Mary-Anne! What did I say?! Take no more than 5 minutes! You've been gone for nearly 20!" Mary-Anne looks terrified and puts her head down. "Come here girl! Back to work!" The man wants to grab the girl but the bounty hunter stands up and looks at the man. "Leave the girl be sir, she's been taking care of my wound, I'll take responsibility for her chores if she can finish patching me up." "And who are you? A gunslinger? Outlaw? We have no need for killers sir!"

The bounty hunter looks at the man and bows his head in agreement. "You are right sir, but from this day forward I'm a ranch hand if you'll have me, my money got stolen, so did my weapons and horse. I'd be grateful if you'd let me work here." The man looks at the bounty hunter, who's a good bit taller then the man. "Fine! You can work here for the time being! Mary-Anne! Finish patching up our Gunslinger here and show him round the ranch." Mary-Anne nods and sits the bounty hunter down. As soon as the man has left she asks. "Why'd you do that sir?" "It was the right thing to do." Says the bounty hunter. Mary-Anne finishes patching up the bounty hunter and gives him his clothes. "We stitched up the hole in  your clothing. It's as good as new, though it's warm outside so I'd leave the jacket sir." Thank you Mary-Anne." The two walk over the property with Mary-Anne showing the bounty hunter the stables, barn, farm house and silo. "That's all Mister! Now it's late in the day so I'd get some rest if I were you." "Thank you Mary-Anne." "Call me Mary, we're friends ain't we mister?" The bounty hunter smiles and nods "Course we are Mary." The bounty hunter walks back to the little hut where he woke up and throws his hat on the bed and sits down on his chair. Right when he wants to close his eyes to rest, he hears a big bang coming from the house next to him. Thinking it's just some barrels falling down he closes his eyes and falls asleep.