Chapter Forty-Six

Ance was pacing the porch when Irish finally arrived with the doctor. The doctor didn't appear much older than Ance. He had a limp, a clean shaven face watery gray eyes. "What the hell took you so long?" Ance growled. "This don't look like any doctor I've ever seen. Do you know anything about medicine?" 

The doctor switched the leather satchel he carried to his other hand and sighed. "I hear that quite often so let me say that your originality is lacking. I'm thirty-four years old, sir, and I've been practicing medicine to some degree or another since I was six, since my father was a doctor as was his a doctor before him. Now if you'll stop with your rude questioning, which I'm sure is simply due to the worry and fear that you frontier types aren't good at expressing, I'd be obliged to be shown to the patient's room so I can examine her." 

Ance simply stood there dumbfounded a moment. Had this skinny, limping, weak-eyed, baby faced, puny man just insulted him? Hell he'd used so many damn words that Ance was having trouble stringing them all together and figuring that out. 

Irish laughed lightly. "Ya were at least right about the rude part, doctor, though ya were wrong about what caused it. Birth caused our Ansel to be a bit of a cactus." 

"No one asked you, Irish," Ance growled. "Now let's get inside. It took you long enough to get here and she's in pain." 

Ance stomped across the porch and heard the doctor and Irish following behind him. He led them up the stairs and into Audrey's room. She was laying on the bed and seemed sound asleep. Ance worried... what if she had a concussion and that was the reason for her drowsiness?

He went to the bedside and stooped low to kiss her brow. "Wake up, whiskey lady. The doc is here." 

Much to Ance's relief, Audrey's eyelids fluttered open and her brown eyes were clear as she gazed up at him. "Is Penelope still okay?" 

"I'll go sit with her while the doc checks you out, okay?" Ance suggested. 

"Okay." 

Ance turned to the doctor. "You better be real gentle with her and make sure she ain't hurt no worse than I figure. I already know she's got some broke ribs and her face is a mess. Make sure that bastard didn't do anything worse." 

"I am a doctor, sir." he sniffed indignantly. "That's what I do." 

Ance growled and strode back out of the room with Irish behind him. "The sheriff is on his way here, Ansel. He had to take care of something else but then he was going to come and get the body." 

"Good," Ance grumbled. "The sooner that rotting son of a bitch is out of here, the better off we'll all be." Then Ance frowned. "He didn't recognize you, did he?" 

"Shite no," Irish shook his head. "I had the good doc go and fetch him. I know better than to go showin' my face 'round members of law enforcement. They don't take too kindly to seein' me for some reason or another."

"Yeah," Ance snorted. "I wonder. Well you better just keep your head down while the sheriff is here. I don't need you getting arrested from the ranch. If I have to bust you out of jail right here then that could make things rough for Audrey here at the ranch."

Irish stepped in front of Ance just before he could open Penelope's door. "What do you want, Irish?" Ance demanded with annoyance. "I need to see to Penny." 

"Are ya just the dotin' father and...husband these days? I take it that Audrey agree to keep your ring?" 

Ance sighed. "Yeah, you nosy bastard, she did. Of course she might be suffering side effects of a head injury so once that clears she might be singing a different tune." 

"I don't believe she will. Though to make it legal ya know ya will have to sign papers and such." 

"Since when do I worry about legal?" Ance grunted. "As far as I'm concerned my feelings, her feelings and these rings are all we need and I've read up on common law marriage so I know damn well it's allowed. That said, if Audrey wants things done the other way around then we'll sign some damn papers." Ance nudged Irish aside. "Is your curiosity satisfied enough now that I can tend to my daughter or would you like to sit and chat about the weather?" 

Irish was laughing as Ance stepped into Penelope's room. Her plate was empty and she was sitting and staring out the window. "You okay, Penny?" Ance asked quietly. 

"No..." She looked his way with tears in her eyes. "Are the bad men going to keep coming, pa? Is it always gonna be like this?"

Ance clenched his fists and took several deep breaths to combat the anger that her words stirred in him. How dare those bastards do this to Penelope's innocence. Those no-good, worm shit bound, sons of bitches! 

"No, Penny, it won't always be this way. Now listen here--" Ance crouched in front of the small white rocking chair she was sitting in. "The world's full of bad people, Penny. We've all gone through our own share of pain and suffering and, let me tell you that I know how terrible it is to be your age and have your belief that the world is good be stolen from you. But you can't let it stop you from being happy, Penny, because there are good people in the world too. Your mama is good, you're good, lots of people are good." 

"You're good, pa," Penny assured him, placing that chubby soft hand upon his bearded cheek. 

Ance smiled. "I'm better now than I used to be," he agreed. 

"And Irish is good too," Penelope added. 

Ance chuckled. "Let's not get carried away now, Penny."

Penelope giggled. Ance stood up and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Pa?"

"Hmm?" Ance replied, finding it a strange, new and surprisingly pleasant thing to hear himself referred to by that term. 

"Are you staying here now? Mama said you weren't going to.. She said that you were wild and would want to leave. She said we shouldn't ask you to stay because it wouldn't be fair but..." Penelope chewed at her lip in a way endearingly similar to her mother. "But I really want you to stay. I don't want you to leave us." 

Ance sighed. "I'm not going anywhere, Penny. I'm gonna stay right here with you and your mama for as long as the two of you will keep me around." 

Penelope's face lit up with the brightest smile that Ance had ever seen grace it. She leapt from her chair and crashed into his arms, knocking him off balance and causing them both to tumble against the white bedspread covered in pink and purple flowers. 

"Really pa? You're really gonna stay forever! I'm so happy! Have you told mama?" 

Ance propped himself up on his elbow and smoothed her blond hair from her face. "Yeah, me and your mama talked a bit about things." 

"Was she as happy as me?" Penelope inquired. 

Ance chuckled. "Well she didn't knock me down in the bed, but yeah, I reckon she wants to keep me around a while too." 

Irish poked his head in the room and Ance quickly rose from the bed and cleared his throat. "What do you want?" he grumbled. 

Irish winked at Penelope who giggled in response and then met Ance's gaze. "That person from town who I said was coming has arrived." 

"Did he see you?" Ance questioned. 

"No, I saw him ridin' in while I was on the porch preparin' to head out onto the barn. Ya might want to get down there though. He may want to talk to someone about what happened.' 

Ance nodded. "Penny, Irish is gonna stay in here with you and keep you company while I go talk to someone. Why don't you have him help you take care of your doll. Irish always has enjoyed playing with dolls." 

"Haha, Ansel, well the joke is on you, isn't it? Cuz I do rather enjoy takin' care of little dolls.. Especially when their mama is our beautiful wee Penelope." Irish winked and Penelope giggled. 

Ance just shook his head as he left the room. He paused outside Audrey's closed bedroom door and fought the temptation to barge in and check on her. He wasn't used to the possessive and protective nature that Penelope and Audrey brought out in him and it was certainly going to take time to learn to control he. He had to go deal with the sheriff and trust that the doctor would take good care of Audrey. 

Ance stepped out on the porch to find a lean, grizzled old man with a thick gray beard and sweat stained hat standing over Rodger's body. "Hell. We thought he was dead," the sheriff stated, his voice just as trail worn as the rest of him. "The governor is even planning a party in honor of his memory." 

Ance grunted and spit on the dirt beside Rodger's rotting corpse. "He sure as hell don't deserve a party."

The sheriff looked at Ance for the first time. "You're a good sized bastard, aren't you?" he questioned bluntly. "What's your name and what exactly happened here today? Why is Rodger York at Ms. Reynold's ranch?" 

"I reckon she'll be referred to as Mrs. Adam's from now on and I'm Ance." Ance had to be sure that this sheriff understood he wasn't going anywhere. He had to stake his claim so to speak. "Rodger York is here because he faked his death to be able to come after Audrey." 

The sheriff studied him a moment and rubbed at his mustache. "And why exactly would Mr. York have done that?" 

"Because his brain got busted up during childhood, or maybe he took a few too many hits during his younger days, hell I don't know. All I know is that that bastard murdered Alexander Reynolds, had Barnaby Wallace kidnap Penelope and, after attempting and failing to take Audrey by force to his bed, faked his own death so he could come after her as a ghost."

"That's quite a tale.' 

"I don't tell tales, sheriff. Now I got a damn question for you." 

The sheriff's slate gray eyes lit with amusement as the lines around his eyes deepened. "And what's that?" 

"Are we gonna sit out here gabbing all goddamn day or are you gonna get this bastard out of here? I'm about sick and tired of smelling his ass on my woman's ranch." 

"I'll get him out of here but I need to talk to Penelope and Ms. Reynolds and see that they tell the same story that you do...." 

Ance stepped in front of the sheriff and stopped him with nothing but a look. The grizzled old man and the hardened outlaw stared one another down, neither willing to back down. "I done told you that she's Mrs. Adam's now and you won't bother either of them today. Penny has been through enough in the last few months thanks to you not doing your goddamn job and catching her father's killer before he could do more damage and Audrey is up in bed with broken ribs and a busted face. When I think they're ready to talk to you, I'll bring them into town, but you won't be bothering them a minute sooner." 

***

"You said that to a lawman?!" Audrey demanded, though her voice was quiet due to both her broken ribs and the fact that Penelope was sound asleep on the bed between them. 

"Yep," Ance slid his thumb across her brow in the darkness. "The bastard needs to know I don't respect him. He didn't do his job when Rodger murdered Alexander and you said yourself he didn't seem to eager to help when Penny was taken. Too many lawmen hide behind that badge and don't really do a damn bit of good. I don't like them." 

"Any of them?" Audrey asked and Ance knew she was smiling. 

"Nope." 

"I'm tired.. Why am I tired? I slept all day." 

"Because your body is trying to heal, woman," Ance reminded her. "You have two broke ribs and your face looks a hell of a lot like it was trampled by cattle. 

"Wow," Audrey intoned dryly. "Such a romantic man I have." 

"Nope, you certainly don't have that."

"I'm going to go to sleep before I slap you," Audrey warned. "You're in for it just as soon as I can get up out of this bed." 

"The doc said you have to stay in this bed for at least a week and you'll have to take it easy longer than that to give your ribs time to heal." 

"I have a ranch to run," Audrey grumbled stubbornly. 

Ance leaned across Penelope and kissed Audrey's brow. "And you have a crew who knows just how to do it and a man who isn't new to horses." 

"You're more accustomed to stealing them than caring for them." 

Ance laughed quietly. "I think that medicine makes you mean." 

Audrey chewed her swollen bottom lip. "Sorry." 

"Don't worry about it.. I'll make sure I get my payback later."

"I'm sure you will," Audrey assured him. Then Ance saw her chewing that lip again and he sighed. 

"What, Audrey? You might as well spit it out. I know what those teeth on that lip means."

Audrey glared through the darkness. "I'm just unsure about something.."

"What?" 

"Ance.. I know that you love us, Penelope and me..."

"Damn right I do," Ance agreed. 

Audrey nodded. "But I just want to make sure that staying here, marriage, adopting Penelope and settling down are really what you want. I don't want you doing them just because you feel you have to or you're stuck..." 

Ance shook his head and decided it was time to tell her exactly how he felt. It wasn't something easy for him to do and he probably wouldn't make a habit of it but she needed to hear it now. "Whiskey lady, I've known for a long time that you and this little girl are all I need. You're my future. I've done my fair share of rambling and roaming and let me tell you that none of that felt even half as good as laying in this bed with my wife and our daughter. I love you, Audrey."

Audrey's eyes lit up. "I love you too, Ance." 

"And I don't do anything I don't want to do," Ance added. "And I'm laying right here so that oughta tell you something." 

Audrey laid her hand on his bearded cheek. "It does. It tells me everything." 

"Good.' 

"But Ance?" 

"Hmm?" Ance asked, sleeping fighting to claim him after the long and stressful day they'd all had. 

"I want a wedding."