Clifton County Fireworks Read online

  The morning was beautiful, and Jennie Rose was enjoying the first real freedom she’d experienced in two whole years. All of a sudden, three men came out of nowhere and surrounded her. “Hold on there, honey. What’s your hurry?” One of them asked with a smile that showed his rotting, ugly teeth.

  “Get away from me!” Jennie Rose ordered sharply, wishing she’d remembered to pick up a gun before leaving the house.

  “I don’t think so, Miss. Your Daddy has something we want, and we aim to keep you with us until he forks over some money.”

  “You’re kidnapping me?” Jennie Rose demanded furiously.

  “I see you understand, but we aim to treat you real good.”

  Chapter Two

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Jennie Rose said firmly.

  “You don’t have a choice, girl.” One of the men pulled a gun and pointed it at her, his evil smile telling her she couldn’t do one thing to stop them.

  Jennie Rose didn’t stop to think, but gave her quick temper free rein; she sliced her riding crop down hard on the man’s hand. The man cried out in pain as his gun was sent flying through the air. It landed against a rock and discharged, spooking one of the horses. She tried to turn her stallion and head back to town and safety, but one of the kidnappers grabbed her around the waist before she could get very far, lifting her clear of her saddle. Her mount headed back to town without her, and Jennie Rose struggled to free herself.

  “Stop fighting me, girl, or I’m going to get rough with you!” The irate man growled, and Jennie Rose promptly used her riding whip to jab him as hard as she could. “I warned you!” He growled furiously, and then threw her to the ground, causing her to drop her only method of defense, her riding crop. She tried to rise, but the jolt knocked the air out of her lungs, and it was a struggle to get her breath.

  In the meantime, the evil man jumped off his horse and threw himself on top of her, in spite of her attempts to avoid it. “I always wanted to know what it felt like to have me a girl who wore men’s britches. I’m going to find out right now. You’ll regret using that crop on me, bitch!” He promised, doing his best to control her wildly struggling body, and the fingernails she scraped across his face. He slapped her then, and yelled at the other two. “Hold her arms down, damn it! She’s going to learn the lesson of her life!”

  “No!” Jennie Rose fought, but the man was too determined to have his way, and the other two grabbed her arms and held them so she couldn’t do anything to defend herself. He ripped off her shirtwaist and camisole, and she tried to bite him when he started fondling her breasts.

  “Girl, you just don’t know when to quit. I think you need a good whippin’ to teach you your place!” His hands went to his belt, and he drew it through the loops and then doubled it in one hand. “Either you promise to be real nice to me, or I’m going to take the skin from your back and from those titties of yours that you’re too proud to let me touch!”

  “Never! I’d rather die first!” Jennie Rose spat at him, hatred flaring from her blue eyes. He raised his fist to punch her, but the blow never landed. There was a shot and the vicious man fell on top of her, dead. The other two released her arms and went for their guns; they didn’t clear their holsters before dying.

  Jennie Rose looked at the man with the smoking gun still in his hand and burst into tears. “Get him off of me, please!” She begged. The rising sun was in her eyes and she couldn’t see who had come to her rescue.

  “Hold on, honey.” He pushed the body off of her slight form. “You’re all right now. He can’t hurt you.” He said, lifting her into his arms and holding her close.

  “Johnny?” Jennie Rose whispered in shock, recognizing his voice. She’d never imagined her first meeting with him in two years would be like this! How humiliating!

  “You’re safe now, Jennie Rose.” Johnny spoke in soothing tones. “You’ve had a bad scare, but you aren’t hurt.” He found a spot to sit down under a tree and simply held her and let her cry, rocking her back and forth and whispering to her that she was just fine, and promising that he’d never let anyone hurt her. He shuddered to think what would have happened if he’d been a few seconds later. Mace Adams was cold blooded and vicious, and he would have whipped her raw before forcing himself on her. Johnny gave thanks that he was in time to prevent that.

  “Thank you for saving me.” She finally pulled herself together enough to speak. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along when you did.” She was very lucky and she knew it. “They were kidnapping me, hoping to get money from my Father.” She explained.

  “Yeah, Mace Adams and his two brothers. They’re wanted for robbery, kidnapping, and murder in about five states. They probably heard you were coming home and figured your Father was wealthy enough to pay a ransom to get you back.” He didn’t tell her that they always raped and killed their victims. She was already upset enough and he didn’t want to distress her even more.

  “They didn’t intend to release me, Johnny. They didn’t try to hide their faces. They were going to rape me, and then kill me.” She said matter-of-factly, facing the truth. “If you hadn’t come along when you did…” She shuddered and started crying again. “I’m so sorry to be so emotional. I’m not usually like this!” She explained, embarrassed to have him see her like this. Why, she hadn’t carried on this much when he spanked her in front of the entire town!

  “No need to be sorry, Jennie Rose. You had a really bad scare, but you’re safe, honey. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He kissed her on the cheek before he could tell himself that it might not be appreciated by the feisty young lady. He simply wanted to comfort her. “We’ll get you back to town, and to your Father. This will all be a bad dream in a few days.”

  “Oh, no!” Jennie Rose suddenly realized that her clothing was ripped and lying in shreds on the ground by that awful man’s body, and her breasts were exposed! She crossed her arms over herself and started crying again, wishing the earth would open up and swallow her! What ever would she do now? She couldn’t, and simply wouldn’t, ride into town like this!

  Johnny quickly interpreted the source of her distress and said calmly and softly, “I have a clean shirt in my saddle bags, Jennie Rose, and I’ll fetch it for you. Don’t be embarrassed.”

  “That man touched me!” She wailed before she could help herself. She felt like such a big baby, but in spite of what people might think of her, she was completely inexperienced with men. Johnny was the only one who’d dared to kiss her, and that was over two years ago! This whole situation was simply more than she could bear!

  “Now you listen here, Jennie Rose.” Johnny scolded. “None of this is your fault. You didn’t ask for this to happen. You hold your head high, and remind yourself that it took three of them to hold you down. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He put her on her feet, facing away from him, and then he stood up. “You come along with me to my camp. I promise to keep my eyes off your body and I’ll get that shirt for you, and finish shaving my face before we head into town. Ma hates whiskers.” He grinned at the pretty little redhead, not once permitting his eyes to look lower. He offered her his hand, wondering if she would take it, and she did, without hesitation. It told him how frightened she still was. “You’ll be fine, Jennie Rose. Those three worked alone, and didn’t trust anyone else.”

  “How can you be so sure, Johnny?” She demanded.

  “It’s my job to know.” He answered shortly, and led her into a small clearing. “This is where I camped last night. It was too late to ride into Clifton, and I didn’t want to frighten Ma, or wake her and Jeremy.”

  Jennie Rose watched as he went directly to his saddle bags and took out a clean shirt. She accepted it from him with a nod of thanks, and then turned away from him to put it on over her bruised breasts. Her skin was delicate and already showing signs of bruising, and her face ached where Mace slapped her. The red flannel shirt was huge on her, of course, but she buttoned it up and rolle
d the sleeves up to her wrists. She immediately felt less vulnerable, and she was thankful that Johnny treated her so respectfully.

  Johnny quickly finished shaving, and ran a comb through his red hair. He cleaned up his camp, and then saddled his stallion. “Let’s go and I’ll tie those three to their mounts, and take their bodies back to town.”

  “What if the Sheriff accuses you of killing them?” Jennie Rose worried.

  “He won’t, Jennie Rose. He’ll be happy to see they won’t be terrorizing helpless females.”

  The three outlaws’ horses weren’t hard to catch, and Johnny used blankets to wrap the bodies and then hoisted them over their saddles. He was trying to spare the citizens of Clifton a shock, and he did believe in showing respect for the dead, even if they didn’t really deserve respect. It was just the principle of the thing.

  “You act like you’ve done this before!” Jennie Rose said accusingly.

  He just looked at her, but didn’t respond. Once he was finished, he asked thoughtfully, “Where’s your horse, Jennie Rose?”

  “He headed back to town when Mace Adams grabbed me.” She said bitterly. “He’s new since I was home, but I thought he looked reliable. He obviously needs more training.” And she would see to it he got it, she promised herself.

  “No problem. You can ride with me. Come on.” He coaxed, as he mounted and then held out his hand to help her up.

  Jennie Rose had no choice, unless she wanted to walk all the way back to town, and she didn’t. Her body was still shaking. She permitted Johnny to pull her up in front of him, and tried very hard not to be conscious of his body so close to hers. It didn’t help when he put one arm around her waist to steady her, and she was shocked to realize she was still very attracted to the man.

  “Jennie Rose,” Johnny said softly, “I owe you an apology, and I’d like to get it over with right now. I’m sorry I embarrassed you so badly that you felt you had to leave town for the last two years. I lost my darn temper, and while that isn’t a good excuse, I shouldn’t have turned you over my knee in front of the town the way I did.”

  Jennie Rose felt her cheeks turn a burning red. “I shouldn’t have dumped the lemonade all over you for telling me the truth about my cooking. I lost my temper, too, Johnny.” She admitted. “Neither of us behaved very well, and we made a terrible mess of Mr. McCauley’s Mercantile. I’m not looking forward to facing him, either. I doubt he will understand that we have quick tempers.”

  “We’re both redheads.” He grinned, and then asked, “Can we start over with each other?”

  “I’d like that.” She replied, and to her surprise, and his, she giggled. “Daddy and your mother won’t believe we have a truce. The whole town is expecting more fireworks from us!”

  “The only fireworks they’re going to get is the kind that light up the sky.” Johnny chuckled. “I suspect we’ve both learned a bit about controlling our tempers in the last couple of years. I grew up a lot once I left home.” He said seriously.

  “I did, too.” Jennie Rose said quietly. “I was just out of the schoolroom, and you were only twenty. Two years can make a huge difference.”

  They made small talk the rest of the way into town, but it didn’t take long to realize the entire town was in an uproar when they rode in. Jennie Rose was embarrassed at her disheveled appearance, and could feel the eyes staring at her as she rode with Johnny. Of course people recognized them both, and the fact they were leading three horses with dead bodies tied across the saddles, gave the townspeople even more to gossip about. Johnny took them straight to the Sheriff’s office, and the door to the jail opened at once as the Sheriff and Robert Clifton walked outside.

  “Jennie Rose!” Robert rushed forward to lift his daughter down from Johnny’s saddle. “Oh my God, honey, what has happened to you?”

  “Thankfully nothing, Daddy. Johnny Tanner saved me.” She said with a smile for the tall redhead. “These three men were trying to kidnap me for ransom, but they meant to kill me!”

  “I got a ransom note already.” Robert admitted. “I came straight to the Sheriff, and we were trying to handle this carefully.” He hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Tanner.” He said to Johnny, tears of gratitude in his eyes as he offered the younger man his hand.

  Johnny shook hands. “No thanks necessary, Mr. Clifton. I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time. I heard Jennie Rose calling for help, and did what I had to do.”

  “She’s a lucky little lady you were there, Johnny.” The Sheriff said as he approached them after checking on the dead men’s identities. “I recognize those three from the wanted posters on them: Mace, George, and Evan Adams. There’s a huge reward for them in several states, all totaled, it adds up to plenty. You won’t need to wear a badge anymore if you don’t want to, son.”

  “I like my badge just fine, Sheriff. I’ll give you an account to wire part of the money, and the rest can be sent here.”

  “You’re a lawman?” Jennie Rose looked at Johnny in surprise.

  “Sure am. A Deputy Federal Marshal.” He said proudly. “I’m on vacation now, though, and that’s why I’m not wearing my badge.”

  “I didn’t know.” She felt very foolish for worrying that the Sheriff would arrest him. “You must have thought it silly I was worried the Sheriff wouldn’t understand.”

  “No, I thought it real sweet of you to care, Jennie Rose. Why don’t you let your Dad take you on home now so you can relax a bit? You don’t need to be answering these folks’ questions, either. Tell them to mind their own business if they get all nosy.”

  “I wish you’d come to dinner, Tanner, so I can thank you properly.”

  “Not tonight, sir. Ma would cut a switch and chase me with it if I didn’t sit at her table tonight.” He grinned.

  Robert nodded. “I’m sure she would. Another time real soon, then?”

  “Fine.” Johnny said civilly. He certainly hadn’t expected to be welcome in the Clifton house, but life was strange. “Jennie Rose, you put on a big smile now. None of this today was your doing. Got that?”

  “Yes. Thank you, Johnny.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek, not caring a bit that people were watching curiously. She owed the man a proper thank you for risking his life to save hers. “I’ll see to it that Daddy invites you to dinner again real soon.”

  “I’d like that.” He smiled at her, and then watched her walk away with her father’s arm wrapped protectively around her.

  “Johnny! Johnny! I just heard that you were in town and you saved Jennie Rose Clifton’s life!” His sweet Ma came running, Jeremy with her.

  “Hello, Ma.” He picked her up and swung her around. Then he looked down at his little brother. “Jeremy, you sure have grown!” He grinned.

  “What happened, dear?” Abigail asked with a worried frown.

  “I’ll tell you all about it over breakfast, Ma. I’m starving and have been looking forward to your cooking for days now. Feed me, please!” He begged, chuckling at her expression.

  Abigail realized her eldest was toning down the story a bit to make it fit for Jeremy’s ears, but she easily read between the lines. “I’m so thankful you were there to help that poor girl.”

  “Me too, Ma. She’s a pretty little thing, and she sure is a fighter. I was proud of her.”

  “Folks are expecting a lot of fireworks for the Fourth since you and Jennie Rose are both in town, Johnny.” Jeremy informed his brother.

  “That’s not going to happen, little brother.” Johnny smiled easily. “Jennie Rose is a lovely lady now, and I’ve grown up some, too. We have both worked hard to learn to control our tempers.”

  Jeremy laughed as though he found that idea funny, and then asked to be excused so he could go and tell his friends that his older brother was home. Abigail released him, anxious for some time alone with Johnny. They talked and talked, and she sensed a new maturity about him that wasn’t there two years earlier.

  “I hope you are planning to stay for
a while, honey?” She finally asked, getting to her feet.

  “I’d like that, Ma. At least for a couple of weeks.” He promised.

  “Good. There are still a few of days before the Fourth, and I have several dresses to finish before then, so I need to get to work. You’re welcome to come downstairs and keep me company.” She offered.

  “I think I’ll walk around town and say hello to some folks, Ma. Check out the town and see what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.”

  “I’m sure you’ll enjoy doing that. Be sure you come back around noon and have something to eat, now.” She reminded him.

  “I’d be happy to take you and Jeremy to the restaurant to eat, Ma, if you’d like?” He offered.

  “Not today, honey; but maybe before you leave again. I really do have to work.” She said as she headed for the door that led to the steps down to her store. Johnny followed her, and helped her turn the closed sign to open, and unlock the door while she put up the shades.

  “See you later, Ma.”

  Chapter Three

  Johnny went to the lumber mill first. He wanted to see Ed Coleman, and find out how he was doing. He’d worked for the man for five years, while still in school and afterwards, and Ed had acted like a father to him in many ways. Johnny didn’t know how his family would have made it without the extra income he was able to bring home and give to his Ma. He could have made more by quitting school, but she simply wouldn’t hear of it, and Ed found ways to keep him busy for a few hours every day after school, and all day on Saturdays. Johnny was pretty sure that he would have run wild without the man’s steadying influence.

  “Well, lookee who’s here!” Ed excitedly got up from his desk and came around to give Johnny a friendly hug and a big grin, while slapping him on the back. “Want your old job back, son? I could sure use your help! We’re busier than ever these days.” Ed beamed at him, happy as could be.