“Jonah, it looks like the cart went over the cliff.” Reb said quietly as they stopped their winded horses and shared a look of dread.

“Stay back here with, Clayton.” Jonah stated as he slid from Copper’s back. Reb frowned as he wrapped an arm tight around Clayton’s waist.

“Are ya sure ya don’t want me to check that out…?” Reb questioned and Jonah quickly shook his head and looked away from them both. Clayton had wanted to ride on Copper with him but Jonah simply hadn’t been able to bring himself to let the boy…….. Jonah had no idea how to be a father or even how to go about letting the boy know that Jonah was more to him than just a character in his mother’s stories.

Jonah pushed his thoughts away and focused on the task at hand. Since leaving the cabin at dawn they had pushed their horses to near breaking to cover the distance between they and Joe’s kidnappers. Finally they had come to this place where it was clear from the tracks and blood that something big had happened. All Jonah knew for sure was that if he was going to find Joe’s dead body lying on the rocks over this cliff then he would just as soon that Clayton didn’t see it as well.

Jonah’s feet were heavy and his heart full of dread as he approached the cliffs edge. He had never prayed so hard in all his life as he did before peering over the edge. He prayed that he wouldn’t see the body of the woman he had loved so deeply lying broken beneath him…. Clayton needed his mother. Jonah knew more than anyone how much a boy needed a good mother.

Jonah took his time studying the pile of splintered wood and horseflesh lying nearly fifty feet down on a rocky ledge but no matter how hard he looked he saw no flash of red hair. Nothing that resembled a human body.

Relief flooded him as he turned and met Reb’s eye. Jonah gave a small shake of his head and saw Reb let out a breath of relief before sliding from the saddle of his horse and setting Clayton on the ground.

“Where’s mama?” the boy asked as he approached Jonah.

“I’m not sure yet, boy. Let me look around some.” Jonah replied and when he saw the fear and sadness on Clayton’s face he swallowed hard, reached out and laid a gentle hand on the boys tiny shoulder.

It was the first time he had touched his son and Jonah felt something other than sadness, hurt, worry and anger fill his heart for the first time in a long long time.

Clayton looked up at him and Jonah forced a smile to his face. He wasn’t sure if the smile was comforting or more of a grimace. He hadn’t had much practice at smiling in the last five years. As a matter of fact he couldn’t remember the last time he had done so.

“Don’t worry, boy. I’m gonna try my damndest to get your mama out of trouble and back home to you.” Jonah assured the boy. Clayton’s gray eyes stayed locked with his own and Jonah wanted nothing more than to hold the boy. To pull him into his chest, promise to be a good pa and never let him go.

The moment was interrupted when Reb cleared his throat.

“Jonah, something big happened here. There’s blood everywhere.”

“I know that, dammit.” Jonah grumbled. “I was hoping to not alert the kid here to that fact.”

“I saw the blood.” Clayton replied simply. “I got eyes ya know.”

Jonah just shook his head and looked around. “Looks like after the cart took a dive they continued on horseback and it looks like judging by the tracks that they were moving a bit slower.”

“Joe probably taught ‘em all a bit of a lesson.” Reb stated with a chuckle.

“My mama don’t take no crap offa nuttin.” Clayton agreed with a nod. “That’s how I know she’s gonna be just fine.”

“Alright, well lets get a move on. We gotta be getting close.” Jonah said as he swung himself up in Copper’s saddle.

Reb climbed up on his mare and Clayton started toward the other man but Jonah shook his head.

“Hey, kid, ya wanna ride with me on Copper?”

“I sure do!” Clayton exclaimed with a smile and Jonah felt the first real smile he’d smiled in years come to his face.

“Come on then.” he urged. He gripped Copper with his legs and leaned down to pick the boy up and then set him on the saddle in front of him.

“This horse is great. I want one just like this when I get growed up.”

“I think I can probably find you one.” Jonah replied. “Of course it takes a lot of training to make a horse as good as Copper.”

“I’m good with critters. That’s what mama says…. Ya would really get me one?”

Jonah nodded as he slid one arm around the boys waist and felt his heart fill with more love than he would have ever imagined it could hold. That didn’t make any sense. He’d met the boy less than twenty-four hours ago and yet already he would die for him. Already he would do anything just to keep his son safe and happy. Already he was in love with this tiny child that seemed to be all the best parts of Jonah and Joe all rolled together with none of the bad.

“Yeah. Yeah I’ll really get you one.”

***

“I’m startin’ to worry ‘bout my mama.” Clayton whispered that night as he and Jonah sat alone around a tiny campfire. Reb had gone off to keep watch, though Jonah figured the man had really just wanted to give Jonah time alone with his son.

“Don’t worry, Clayton. Your mama is the toughest woman I know, hell she may just be the toughest person I know, she’ll be okay.”

Clayton poked at the fire with a stick, (something he seemed to like to do which was something the boy seemed to have in common with his mother), and then he looked up at Jonah with a frown. “Can I ask you sumthin’?”

Jonah stretched out his legs and leaned his back against the rock behind him. “Ask away.”

“You are the Jonah from them stories right?”

“Yes.” Jonah replied with a sigh. The boy had already asked him that question close to a thousand times.

“So who’s Josephine?”

“Someone that I….. I loved.” Jonah replied, feeling that knot tightening in his gut.

“Cuz I always kinda though that Josephine was my mama. Ya know Joe and Josephine kinda sound alike and Joe ain‘t ‘zactly a woman‘s name.”

“Are you sure you’re only four?” Jonah demanded as he swiped at a spot of dirt on his knee. “You seem awful smart for a four year old.”

“Yeah, mama says I’m near half grown already.”

Jonah just shook his head, laid his hat over his face and then leaned his head against the rock and closed his eyes. Silence reigned for about ten seconds before Clayton poked him in the shin.

“So ya gonna answer my question or what?” Jonah lifted his hat and raised a brow.

“I wasn’t aware that you had asked me one.”

Clayton let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. “Is Josephine my mama? Are those stories ‘bout you and my mama?”

“How would you feel if they were?” Jonah asked cautiously as he wondered what in the hell Joe had been feeding this kid to make him so damn smart and grown up at the age of four.

Clayton seemed to be thinking hard for a while as he looked at the fire and tapped his finger against his chin several times.

“Do you still love my mama?”

“I can’t answer that just now, Clayton. It’s been a long time since I’ve even talked to your mama.”

“Ya know I don’t have a pa since mine died so if ya love my mama ya could stick around….”

Jonah swallowed hard and sat up straight.

“No matter what happens with me and your mama, I think you and I can still be friends and I’ll still get you that horse.”

“Promise?” Clayton asked and Jonah snorted.

“Yeah I’ll get you that damn horse.” he replied and Clayton shook his head.

“I wasn’t talkin’ ‘bout the horse.” he whispered. “I was talkin’ ‘bout you stayin’ around and bein’ my friend.”

Jonah felt his chest tighten at the boys words. How desperate was he for attention when he was practically begging a man he didn’t know to stick around and be his friend? Then again maybe the boy felt the same pull that Jonah felt between them. Maybe Clayton could sense deep down that Jonah was the pa that he thought was dead…. Or maybe that was Jonah’s own false hope.

“I told ya I would and if there’s one thing you can count on, Clayton, it’s my word.”

Clayton smiled and went back to poking the fire. Jonah was about to lay back against the rock when he heard a bush move beside him and instantly moved to a crouching position, threw Clayton’s body between he and the rock and drew his gun.

“Calm down, Jonah!” Reb’s voice scolded as the man stepped into the glow of the fire. “I’d just as soon not take no bullets tonight if I can avoid it.”

“Then don’t go sneaking up on me then.” Jonah grumbled. Clayton came around him and stared at him with wide eyes as Jonah stood straight.

“You’re just the same as mama said you were….” he whispered in an awestruck voice. Jonah shifted his feet, uncomfortable with the boys praise.

“Jonah, come on over here for just a minute.” Reb said, motioning with his hand for Jonah to join him on the other side of the fire. Jonah frowned, motioned for Clayton to stay where he was and then walked to Reb.

“I found ‘em, Jonah.” Reb whispered and Jonah felt his heart begin to beat a little faster.

“You did?”

“Yeah. ‘Bout a quarter mile east of us. It looks pretty bad, Jonah. Bart’s beat all to hell and from what I can tell Joe’s been beat ‘round a little herself. And it looks like they shot her in the left leg below her knee.”

Jonah closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to imagine the pain Joe must be in. Despite what she’d done to him, the fact remained that he couldn’t stand the thought of something bad happening to her.

“How many men are there?”

“Five.” Reb replied. “But they’re pretty banged up as well. Two of ‘em look like they’ve had their noses broke and they’re all wearing bandages…. Somebody put up a fight.”

“That a girl, Joe.” Jonah whispered more to himself than to Reb but Reb grinned.

“Gideon taught her well. She’s pickin’ ‘em off one by one would be my guess… But Jonah she don’t look real good….”

“Alright.” Jonah said more loudly and then he turned to Clayton. “Clayton, you gotta stay here.”

“Did ya find my mama?” Clayton asked and Jonah nodded.

“Yes. But you gotta stay here because it could be dangerous.”

“No, I’m coming to help you.” Clayton argued stubbornly as he stepped forward and Jonah shook his head.

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No.”

“Yes, dammit.”

Jonah’s eyes widened at the boys curse. “You’ll watch how you speak to me, boy. I’m your f…. friend..” Jonah had nearly told the boy he was his father. “…and it’s my job to look out for you. Now I’m gonna get your mama back to you safe and sound but I can’t do that if I’m worried about whether or not you’re okay. Do you understand?”

Clayton didn’t look happy but he nodded. “Yeah, I understand.”

“Good. Now listen close. You stay here with Copper and if anybody comes you get on his back and hightail it out of here…”

“I can’t climb up on him! He’s huge!” Clayton argued and Jonah sighed.

“Copper!” he called and the stallion looked toward him, his ears swiveling. “Hit the ground.”

Jonah saw Clayton’s eyes widen when Copper dropped to the ground, curling his legs underneath him as if bedding down for the night.

“Wow!” Clayton gasped. “That’s plumb ‘mazin’!”

“Stay down, Copper.” Jonah added and the stallion let out a whoosh of air through his nose. “Now, Clayton, he’ll stay that way ‘til you climb on his back and tell him to go.”

“You’re as good with critters as I am!”

‘It’s actually the other way around.’ Jonah thought to himself and then he pulled his snub nosed colt from the holster at his boot.

“Here, boy.” he said laying it in Clayton’s hand.

“Can that boy handle a gun?” Reb asked with concern and Jonah and Clayton both fixed him with an identical look that had him holding his hands up and chuckling as he backed away.

“Now, if anybody shows up here and you don’t recognize them, I want you to shoot them, jump on Copper and get your ass back to the cabin. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir.” Clayton replied with a nod.

“And if for some reason we don’t come back….”

“But you will.” Clayton cut in and Jonah sighed as he crouched down in front of the boy. “But if for some reason we don’t.. You get on Copper and you get your ass home. Then you get to the nearest town or neighbor. Don’t you dare come looking for us because those men will….”

“I’ll go straight home, Jonah. Promise.”

Jonah nodded and laid a hand on Clayton’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze before swallowing hard and standing straight.

“I’m gonna do my best to bring your mama back to you, boy.” Jonah promised and then he quickly headed off into the woods, following Reb’s lead.