Catherine looked down at Richard lying on the sofa and felt tears filling her eyes. He was pale and covered in blood.

"Is he dead?" Emmett asked and Catherine shook her head.

"Not yet." she replied.

"Oh." Emmett said sounding disappointed. Catherine slapped his arm.

"You ride into town and get something for pain and infection from the doc. I think I can close the wound up myself. Stop by at Bianca and Edward's house and tell them we have guests on your way." she said. Emmett nodded.

"You sure you can handle this on your own?" he asked. Catherine nodded.

"I'm sure." He bent down and kissed her hair.

'I love you and I'll be back as quickly as I can." he said and then he walked out of the house. Catherine stood and walked over to the liquor cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of whiskey and then grabbed her sewing kit off the floor. She laid everything next to the sofa and then walked into the kitchen. The stove was still hot from dinner and she walked outside and filled a bucket full of water from the well. She carried it inside and put it on the stove to heat.

She heard the door to the house open and she could hear someone walk into the sitting room. She assumed it must be the woman that had been with Richard. She wondered who this woman was to Richard and what exactly had happened to her friend.

Catherine waited until the water was warm, grabbed it and some washrags and walked back into the living room. The woman was on her knees beside Richard and had her head lying on his chest. Catherine cleared her throat and the woman looked up at her.

"Did you say your name was Tessa?" Catherine asked. Tessa nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes looking embarrassed to have been caught crying.

"My name is Catherine. Can you help me get his shirt off?" Tessa nodded and quickly unbuttoned Richard's shirt. Richard moaned but didn't wake up as she and Catherine both struggled to get it off of him. Richard's hat fell off in the process and Catherine and Tessa both gasped at the sight of his blood covered head and the wound above his temple.

Tessa had not known his head looked like this beneath his hat.

"You damn stubborn, fool headed man." she scolded him. Catherine wet one of the washrags and handed it to Tessa.

"Go ahead and clean his head off. I'll work on his arm." she said. She cleaned the wound the best she could with the water. Thankfully the bullet seemed to have went straight through and she didn't have to worry about digging it out of his arm.

"Hopefully he's unconscious enough he won't feel this." she said as she opened the whiskey bottle and poured the liquid over the wound. Other than letting out a moan Richard had no other reaction. Catherine opened her sewing case and pulled out a needle and thread. She took her time sewing both sides of the wound tight. And then she and Tessa both worked to clean as much of the blood from him as they could.

Once done Catherine looked over at Tessa and saw the blood on her as well.

"Are you hurt?" she asked. Tessa shook her head.

"No it's not mine." she replied. Catherine nodded.

"What happened to him?" she asked. Tessa sighed.

"It was my damn fault. I wanted revenge on a man and so Richard was helping me and then I got kidnapped and he came to save me and the bastards shot him." Tessa replied. Catherine looked at her wide-eyed. She was dressed like a man, was covered in dirt and blood, and cursed more than any other woman Catherine knew.

"Richard is a good man and he's strong. He'll be okay." Catherine said. She stood up and then walked over and removed Richard's boots. She saw the rag tied around his lower leg and narrowed her eyes. She undid the make-shift bandage and saw the wound on his leg which was just starting to get a scab over it.

"What the hell is that?" Tessa demanded looking at it. Catherine shrugged.

"Looks like he was shot." she said. Tessa made a mental note to ask him about it when he woke up. Then Catherine pointed to the wound on his arm beneath the wound she'd just got done sewing.

"What happened there?" she asked. Tessa bit her lip.

"I got drunk in the saloon, ran my mouth too much and he had to fight five guys to save me. He got shot."

"Sounds like you all have been busy." Catherine said. Tessa nodded and looked back down at Richard.

"Come on. There is still some soup out in the kitchen that's good and warm. I'll get you some." Catherine said. Tessa laid a gentle kiss to Richard's forehead and then followed her to the kitchen.

888

Richard woke up and could feel sunlight on his face. His head felt like a blast of dynamite had gone off inside of it and his arm was burning like fire. He opened his eyes and recognized Catherine's sitting room. It still looked much like it had when he'd last seen it. The cheerful yellow paint, floral couch and armchair and dark cherry mantleplace and tables. He supposed the fact that he was lying on the couch alive  meant he wasn't dead and that Emmett had not put a bullet into him for showing up here.

He heard soft snoring beside him and he looked down to see Tessa asleep on the floor next to the couch. He shook his head and pushed himself up into a sitting position. His movement woke Tessa up and she climbed up onto the couch beside him.

"Good morning, Tom." he said giving her a small smile. Before she could reply Catherine came into the room smiling guiltily.

"Sorry I interrupted you." she said. She handed him a bowl of broth. "I'm leaving now." she said and turned and left the room quickly. Richard watched her walk away. Her soft blue cotton dress whipping around her ankles and her golden hair lying in long waves and curls down her back. He had wondered for the last year how he would feel if he ever saw her again. He was surprised that he felt nothing more for her now than the same kind of fondness he would feel for any friend he had. It just proved to him that God must know better what He was doing than Richard did. Richard had thought he loved Catherine more than he would ever love anybody else but now that Tessa was here with him he knew he had been wrong.

"That's her isn't it?" Tessa asked. "And that humongous husband of hers is the man that busted your lip." Richard nodded.

"Yea that's her." he replied. Tessa nodded.

"How do you feel seeing her again?" she asked. Richard laid his head against hers and kissed her cheek.

"She is a friend, Tessa. Nothing more. You are the one that I want to be with." he said.

"Good to know." Emmett said walking into the living room. "Cat said to give this to you." he added holding out a bottle of pain medicine. Richard grabbed it and quickly took some.

"Thanks Emmett." he said. Emmett shrugged.

"Cat told me to." he replied then he walked out.

"Nice guy that one." Richard said. Tessa laughed lightly.

"He's been quite charming to me." she said. "I just don't think he likes you."

"Charming?" Richard asked. "Maybe about as damn charming as a cactus."

"You must be talking about Emmett." Bianca said as she came into the room. Richard looked up at her and his eyes widened when they fell on her very pregnant belly.

"You look different." he said. Bianca grinned at him.

"You look about the same. Just bloodier.' she said. Richard looked down at himself and realized that he was not wearing a shirt.

"You are one scarred up piece of work, darling." Bianca said as she sat down in one of the arm chairs. Richard felt Tessa tense beside him at the flirtatious, teasing tone in Bianca's voice and he smiled and reached over and took her hand wrapping his fingers through hers.

"Guess a lot of folks just don't like the looks of me much and they figured they'd improve it with bullets and knives." Then Richard looked over at Tessa.

"I need a shirt." he said.

"I left the saddlebags in the barn last night." she said. "I was more worried about getting in here to you I guess." Richard nodded.

"I'll go get em." he said. Tessa shook her head.

"I don't think you will, dammit. You about bled to death last night. I'll get them." she said. Richard frowned at her and traced the bruise on her cheek with his thumb. He didn't want her out of his sight. Seems every time she got out of his sight she ended up in trouble.

"Oh for goodness sakes!" Bianca said rolling her eyes at the two of them. "Edward!" she called out. In an instant Edward was at her side.

"What is it darling? Is it the baby? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Are you…." Bianca cut him off by pressing her finger against his lips.

"Calm down, Edward." she said gently. "It's not about me."

"That's a first." Emmett said walking into the room. Bianca sent a glare in Emmett's direction and then looked back at Edward.

"Richard needs a shirt but the saddlebags are in the barn. Would you go get them?" Edward nodded, kissed Bianca's dark hair and then walked out of the house.

"How did you manage to wrap that man so tight around your finger?" Emmett asked. "He never seemed like the type to let a woman tell him what to do." Before Bianca could reply Catherine walked into the room holding a dark eyed, brown haired little girl in her arms.

"Emmett darling, clean the things out of that chair so I can sit down please and go get Sophia something to snack on." Emmett quickly moved the sewing kit from the second armchair, kissed his wife and daughters heads and started toward the kitchen.

"Oh yes because this family if full of men who don't let women tell them what to do." Bianca said dryly. Emmett turned and smiled.

"I said Edward never seemed like the type. I've been wrapped around your sisters finger since I was ten." he said and then walked out of the room.

"Catherine, I guess I owe you a thank you for sewing me up last night." Richard said looking over at her. Catherine waved her hand.

"You don't owe me anything, Richard." she said. "But I would like to know how you ended up in such bad shape."

"I got shot." he replied with a shrug. Catherine sighed and Emmett walked back in with a biscuit. He laid in Sophia's chubby outstretched hand and then stood behind his wife and daughter. Tessa was again struck by how handsome he was and also by the sheer size of him. He looked like a very able body guard as he stood there behind his family with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I know that." Catherine said. "What happened to your leg?" Richard looked confused and Tessa bent down and raised his pant leg revealing the wound.

"Oh that." Richard said with a shrug. "I got shot."

"When?" Tessa asked.

"I believe that would have been the night that Tom stole my horse. One of those bounties Tom stole from me, shot me before I killed him." Tessa's eyes widened and then turned guilty while everyone else just looked confused.

"Who's Tom?" Bianca asked.

"Me." Tessa replied. "I told you all last night that I was tracking down the man who killed my father but I didn't tell you that I was pretending to be a boy while I did so."

"And you stole Richard's horse?" Emmett asked. Richard nodded.

"She sure did. My horse, my guns, my saddlebags, my bounties.. The only damn thing she left me with was the clothes on my back." Tessa glared over at him.

"Why didn't you tell me that night that you had been shot? I would never have stolen a horse from a man with a damn bullet hole in his leg." Richard shrugged.

"You didn't seem real chatty waving that gun in my face." he replied. Tessa felt tears filling her eyes. Edward walked back in and laid the saddlebags next to Richard and then went to stand next to Bianca.

"Why are you about to cry?" Richard asked Tessa gently.

"Because. You keep ending up hurt and it's my damn fault!" she exclaimed. Richard shook his head.

"No it's not." he replied. She stood up angrily and put her hands on her hips and Richard sighed.

"It is too! I stole your horse and you had to walk who knows how many miles back to town with a bullet hole in your leg! Then I run my drunk mouth in the saloon and you get shot in the arm. And then I go and get myself kidnapped and you take yet another damn bullet in your arm and about bleed to death." she said. The room was silent as everyone simply watched the interaction between the two of them.

"First off it's not your fault that Shade shot me in the leg, I kind of asked for that one. Second I done told you once that the saloon was not entirely your fault. Them guys had been wanting to put bullets in me for a long time and third it's not exactly your fault you got kidnapped by those men."

"Bullshit." Tessa said. "I'm bad for you, Richard. You just keep ending up getting shot and you'd be better off if I left." She turned on her heel and walked out of the house. Richard watched her in shock for several seconds and then jumped to his feet, ignoring the way his head was spinning from the loss of blood and blow to the head the day before, and took off after her.

He caught her as she stepped off the porch and grabbed her hand. He spun her around to face him and saw that she had tears streaming down her dirty face.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.

"I'm leaving before the next bullet you take for me kills you." she said. "I don't want you taking any more bullets for me." Richard looked down at her in disbelief. He pulled her to him and ran his hand down her cheek.

"You foolish damn woman. I would take one hundred more bullets for you if it meant you got to live for just one more second." he said. Tessa shook her head.

"You're better off without me Richard. I've got a bad man wanting to get his hands on me and I don't want you getting killed."

"I don't plan on getting killed anytime soon, honey." he said gently. "And if you think I'm better off without you then you're more foolish than I thought you were. You are everything to me Tessa. Before I met you I had nothing to live for. I was running around just looking for a way to get myself killed. You have given me something to live for. You have given me a reason to smile again. I ain't letting you go anywhere." Tessa smiled happily as she stared up at him.

"Are you saying that you love me?" she asked. Richard grinned and laid his forehead against hers.

"If you haven't figured that out yet then you aren't near as smart as you think you are, Tom." he said. Tessa laughed lightly.

"Besides if you leave Horse would just fall apart. You should have seen how upset he was when he thought that we had lost you yesterday." Richard added and then he looked over and saw Bianca, Edward, Emmett and Catherine standing on the porch watching them.

"Don't' mind us." Bianca said laying her hand on her stomach. "We're just nosy." Richard was about to reply when his head started swimming and his knees nearly buckled. Tessa looked up at him and saw how pale he looked.

"You stubborn ass man! You need to get back in that house and sit down!" she scolded as she threw his arm over her shoulder and helped him up onto the porch.

"Well if you hadn't took off I would never have gotten up." he said and Tessa just laughed.