Chapter 6: The Revelation

Clint had no memory of the night, what he had done, or where he had gone. He woke, stiff and sore on the hay-covered floor of Mr. Akin’s stable. Someone had thrown an old blanket over his prostrate form.

He had made it back to the hotel somehow. The pounding in his head would not go away. His shaky hand would not hold the key still enough for him to insert it in the lock. Clint finally hit the hole, and he entered the room. He found nothing out of place as he looked around the room. He knocked on the bedroom door.

“What” she curtly answered without opening the door.

“You need to eat. Can I get you some food?”

“Yes” was all she said. Clint left the room and went to the hotel restaurant, ordering everything on the menu that he had learned she liked. He didn’t understand what he’d done, but he knew that it was his fault. He had to make amends.

Meanwhile, in her room, Janie seated herself on the bed. She’d had the nightmare again. It had been a long time since that had happened. She was sure she rid herself of that demon until it came to her once more and she woke with a start in the middle of the night, dripping with sweat.

‘I can’t be mad at Clint; he doesn’t know. I’m so sorry that I hit him. What must he think of me? Will he leave me? I should have told him before something like this happened. I just can’t lose him now. Ow, my hand still hurts.’

The tears streamed down her cheeks again. She had cried herself to sleep last night. There were bags under her eyes due to her restless sleep and the nightmare this morning. With resolve, she scrubbed her face to rid herself of the effects of the ordeal. She then dressed in one of his shirts and just her baby blue lace panties. She would beg for forgiveness if that was what it would take. Her mind wandered.

Clint returned with the food, breaking her away from the horrible memory. He placed it on the table, still uncertain about his standing with Janie. She took his hand and led him over to the couch and made him sit.

“I have something to say, and please don’t interrupt. This is something awful about me and I have to tell you,” she said with a choking voice.

He moved towards her, but she stopped him with an uplifted hand. “Please, just listen.”

Janie related the tale of her alcoholic stepfather with anguish. She pulled no punches and left nothing out as she paced back and forth. She was a quivering, helpless mess at the end. Her voice broke several times in the telling. She needed to take a few minutes to compose herself from the emotional stress of the event’s memory. She internally was certain that Clint blamed her. ‘Now he realizes that I am damaged goods’ she told herself. The floodgates opened as the tears flowed once more.

Janie collapsed into a chair, her head in her hands. She heard him move and was certain that he had left her. She composed herself and Clint was kneeling in front of her as he pulled her hands down. There was righteous indignation on his face. She lifted her face to look at him and there were tears streaming down his cheek.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. I didn’t know. It wasn’t your fault. I will never drink again. Nothing like what you told me will ever happen again as long as I take a breath on this earth ... if you will let me.”

“Are you sure you want... ?”

“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

She collapsed into his arms, her sweet lips meeting his. A languorous sigh escaped her lips as they parted from that kiss. He spoke again a little later, after more kisses and the breakfast he’d gotten her.

“Now about that question that you never answered.”

“I’m not sure I understand. The state of mind I was in may have caused me to not hear you right. Please, please repeat what you said for me.”

Clint took a knee as he scooped up Janie’s hands in his.

“Miss Jane Louise Gibson, I love you. I have loved you since the day we met. It would honor me to protect you and keep you safe for the rest of my days if only you would consent to be my bride.”

Momentarily speechless, Janie regained her voice with a joyous scream “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” as tears of joy flowed down her face.

They just sat and held each other, luxuriating in the body to body contact. Their eyes glistened as they both shed tears of joy.

Janie breathed a sigh. “One more kiss, husband to be. I will soon really be your ‘missus’ as they say, and we can go to work cleaning up the West. It seems to be profitable. Besides the find in the saddlebags, which we need to have appraised, we got two thousand nine hundred dollars from the bank finder’s fee, those wanted posters, and the saddlebags. That will provide us for at least two years, if not more. We can go hunting for several months and then come home to peace and quiet.”

“Are you out of your mind? You want us to become gunslingers?” Clint asked. “There must be safer occupations out there.”

“But none are as exciting, and they don’t pay well, either. Just think about it.”