Brother

Chapter Thirteen

After many sympathetic sorries and such I finally felt a little calmer, I hadn't seen Dutch or Hosea which from the others perspective was a good thing. Moving my legs over the edge of the bed I took a deep breath as I tried to stand, the girls had dressed me thank Christ but when I tried to stand my legs buckled beneath me and I collapsed.

"Take it easy darlin' Colm hurt you pretty bad," Miss Grimshaw soothed as she helped me stand, I gave her a weak smile as she helped me out of the tent. Looking around the camp I noticed almost nothing had changed, with a sigh I held onto Miss Grimshaw as she helped me towards the warm fire in the middle of camp. Sitting down on a log I felt feeling return to my legs slowly but surely over time, my heart longed to see Dutch and Hosea but I knew the old man would keep the fool busy for a while until I felt better at least. From what I had heard Dutch hadn't slept properly when we had gone missing, the fool was going to kill himself at this rate in time. The sound of approaching voices caused me to turn, there standing in the morning light was Dutch with Hosea by his side.

"Grace....." Dutch choked out, I felt my heart crack and I flinched when I heard the sadness in his voice.

"Hey Dutch..... been a while," I chuckled with my broken raspy voice, almost immediately he rushed over and picked me up so I was secure between his arms. For some reason I didn't panic, I was home once more and that's all I needed.

"Oh Grace, I was so worried, when we found you the way we did I thought you were dead, my heart shattered to so many pieces when you went missing that it broke me," he managed to choke out, I felt tears returning to my eyes as I returned his hug with my own.

"I thought you had all abandoned me..." I sobbed, the rest of the gang soon joined in our hug and I felt welcomed yet again. No matter what I seemed to do to this gang they seemed to always welcome me back, this made my heart break in a good way. Soon enough however everyone broke off since they had things to do, the rest of my day was spent by Dutch's side since he refused to leave me alone again which wasn't too bad but I liked at least some space.

"Grace?" Dutch called softly as he looked sideways at me, I looked at him with confused eyes before realising I had been deep in thought.

"Yes Dutch?" I croaked, my throat still hurt after I had screamed almost every night when Colm had hurt me.

"How about you and me go on a ride, cheer you up a little," he suggested his dark brown eyes soft with worry, I nodded as we turned and headed for the horses. Of course however Micah had to show up, I lowered my gaze as I hid myself behind Dutch slightly who glanced at me confused before turning to Micah.

"Hey Dutch, Grace, I was wonderin' since both families seem to trust us why don't we rob them both, it means extra money and it means we can leave oh so much faster," Micah suggested, I could see he was making sure his words were as smooth as honey. I looked up at Dutch who seemed to be thinking about it, something about Dutch was changing but wether it was for the better or the worse escaped me.

"I will ask Arthur about it when he gets back," Dutch replied simply, I sighed as I mounted Quicksilver. Soon enough the old stallion would be too old for me to ride and I would probably sell him or set him free, patting the old coal black stallions neck I turned and followed Dutch out of camp and onto the main road. It felt good to be riding again, the wind in my hair and on my face felt better than ever before as we headed down the roads and towards town. According to the boys the Grays were a decent bunch but I could tell otherwise, something was going on here and I needed to at least try to stop it before someone got hurt. Heading into town I hid my face under my hat to avoid men whistling at me again, sadly this plan failed when a few men seemed to look my direction and chuckle. My heart began to thump in my chest as we dismounted, heading into the Saloon we headed to the bar.

"How can I help you too today?" The bartender who seemed to be a fine young man questioned as he walked over, I honestly didn't feel like anything but knew better than to seem odd.

"Just a beer for me," I informed as I sat up straighter, the man grabbed us both a beer and we sat there in silence for a moment.

"Imma Kill Colm for this, you know that right?" Dutch grumbled softly, I nodded as I took a drink.

"I know Dutch..... I know..." I replied almost too softly to hear, the men from before had entered and sat down at a table. From the smell of them they weren't drunk enough to be idiots which scared me, I nudged Dutch and he got the picture that I wanted to leave. Heading outside the men followed us, my heart began to beat too fast for my own good making me dizzy. I began to take deep breaths as we mounted up, it didn't take long before one of the boys grabbed the reigns of Quicksilver and held us there.

"Ello pretty lady," one of them chuckled, I gave a fake smile despite my wishes to run far away.

"Hello there gentlemen, mind letting go of my horse?" I questioned gesturing to the boy holding Quicksilver's bridle, Dutch seemed to tense when one of the boys leaned against the stallion as he looked at me.

"Oh come on girly, we can tell this loser isn't much fun, come with us and you will have so much fun you won't be able to think straight," he chuckled, by now my blood was pounding in my ears as I felt my control slipping.

"I'm right boys, thanks for the offer though," I flashed them a smile as I tried to move but instead one of them grabbed my leg which caused Dutch to glare at him, Dutch could see my panic so he decided to hop in.

"She said no gentlemen, let her go and we won't have any problems," Dutch warned, the boys smirked as they aimed their guns at us. This sent me over the edge as my breathing became rushed and my heart felt it was going to explode, in a quick reaction I kicked Quicksilver in the flanks causing him to rear and both of us took off with bullets raining after us. Dutch made sure to keep pace with me as we headed for camp, why did everything have to go so wrong. Upon arriving back I quickly dismounted and ran for my tent, I needed to calm my nerves incase I hurt anyone. My panic had caused me to drive my body to exhaustion, with a tired sigh I curled into a ball and cried myself to sleep.