"Oh, Sonny, it's good to see you. Jeweldean was just in here a few minutes ago." The bank teller said from his desk when Sonny walked in.

"It's good to see you too, Duke; although, I wish it was in better circumstances." Sonny removed his glove from his right hand and shook Duke's hand.

"I reckon you're here about the letter?" Duke asked Sonny.

"I reckon." Sonny replied. He tried to seem calm through his boiling anger inside. He didn't want to take his anger out on Duke when it wasn't Duke's fault he was in this mess. It was Jeweldean's fault. Besides, the sheriff, Bo, was in the bank and the last thing Sonny needed was to get arrested for yelling at Duke. Folks had been locked up for less.

"Well, take a seat and we can talk through our options."

"Much obliged." Sonny said and took a seat across from Duke. He folded his leg so that his ankle rested on his knee. Sonny took off his glove from his left hand and placed them on his knee.

"Now, as you know, your...disappearance...lasted for over four months. In those four months, no bills were paid."

"I am aware of that, yes." Sonny leaned back in his chair.

"Well, because no bills were paid, we were forced to send out this letter informing y'all that you that we had to come and foreclose on your property."

"But, what I don't understand is that, if y'all knew I wasn't home to take care of these bills like I usually do, then why did y'all still send this notice?"

"I'm sorry, Sonny. We had to. You see, your ranch is one the bank's biggest 'paychecks', if you will, so when we don't receive month after month without payment, then we don't get as much money, which puts us in a hole."

"Okay, let's cut to the chase, Duke. How much do I owe?" Sonny asked and leaned forward, resting his folded hands on Duke's desk.

"Well, four months of bills and interest would equal out to about..." Duke scribbled some numbers out on a piece of paper and handed it to Sonny.

"This is how much I owe?" Sonny asked staring at the large number on the paper.

Duke nodded. Sonny leaned back in his chair, removed his Stetson from his head, and ran his fingers through his hair before placing his hat back on his head.

"Jeweldean sure did leave me a huge mess to clean up." Sonny mumbled.

"We can talk about payment options."

"Do we have any other choice?" Sonny asked, handing the paper back to Duke.

"Foreclosure." Duke replied.

"Foreclosure's not an option for me. What are the payment options?"

"Well," Duke leaned back in his chair, and folded his hands. "You and Jeweldean have always been honest customers. You've always paid your bill on time, and y'all have done more for my family then we could ever repay you for. Besides, I know how much your ranch means to y'all."

"What are you sayin', Duke?"

"I'm sayin'..." Duke let out a deep breath, then looked back up at Sonny. "I'm willing to drop the interest and you can just pay the amount of the bills."

Sonny nodded. "That would help. Thank you, Duke."

"You're welcome," Duke leaned close to Sonny, and said in a lowered voice, "but you cannot say a word about this to anyone, alright?"

"Yes sir." Then sitting back in his chair Sonny said, "Now, how much would that leave me that I owe?" Sonny asked.

Duke scribbled down more numbers on a sheet of paper and handed it to Sonny. "That would surely help some, but that's still a lot that I have to owe." Sonny replied, looking back to Duke.

Duke shrugged. "I'm sorry. It's all I can do."

"I understand. How long do I have to pay this off?"

"You only have sixty days, and on top of that, you have to pay this month's bills too."

Sonny sighed, and shook his head. "Okay, well, I guess I have no other choice, huh?"

Duke shook his head. "Sorry, cowboy."

"It's not your problem, Duke." Sonny stood and shook Duke's hand. "Thanks for what you did do, though."

"My pleasure. I hope everything works out for you, and I will see you in a few weeks when you make a payment."

"I reckon so. Oh, and I heard Clint was in town. Where's he stayin'?" Sonny asked.

Duke looked from Beau to Sonny. "He's at the motel."

Sonny nodded. "Thank you, Duke." He shook hands with Duke, then with Beau and walked out of the bank.

Once he was outside, Sonny began walking to the motel to try to talk to Clint when the doctor stopped him.

"Sonny. So glad to see that you're back. Is everythang alright back at the ranch?"

"Not entirely, doc. I could really use some prayer right about now." Sonny replied.

"You're lucky that I am a prayin' man. Speakin' of praying, is Jeweldean feeling better?"

"What do you mean, is she feeling better?" Sonny asked, his anger began to rise all over again with the discovery of yet another secret Jeweldean kept from him.

"She didn't tell you? She got real real sick and feverish after she had her baby. Clint came out and fetched me the night after the baby was born. He was sayin' Jeweldean was burning up, but couldn't stop shivering. You're lucky he got to me when he did, or else it could've been much worse. She could've died. It definitely is a miracle that she healed so quickly, though."

"No, she didn't tell me about that." Sonny said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, I thought she would've. It was real bad, though. God surely worked one of his miracles on her, that's for sure." The doctor gave Sonny a pat on the shoulder.

Sonny shook his head. "Well, thanks for tellin' me, doc."

"No problem, Sonny. I'll see you around."

Sonny nodded, and made his way back to Bronco. He decided to skip trying to talk to Clint, instead Sonny made his way back to the ranch, where he had some unfinished business with his wife.