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Vin and Victoria made it back into town just after nightfall, the horses eager to be fed, watered and put to bed after their long day. Vin lifted the box of books out of the back as he tossed the stable boy an extra coin or two as he lead the team out back, leaving Vin and Victoria alone.
"Thank you for going with me, Vin. I had a good time." She said, not wanting their day together to end.
"It was my pleasure." He said putting the box down, and he meant it.
The awkward silence that seemed to plague the couple was present once again as they looked at each other. Vin was overcome with a wave of desire at the sight of her standing there, a few wisps of hair that had blown free from their place by the wind now hanging loosely in her eyes. He reached up and brushed them away, letting his hand slide down her cheek as he cupped her chin and leaned downward.
Victoria thought this moment was never going to come as she closed her eyes in anticipation of his first kiss……. but it never came. Instead she felt him pull away from her, his hand jerking back to his side as if she burned his fingers.
"I can't do this." He almost growled, his anger directed at himself, not her.
"Why not?" She questioned, stepping towards him as he retreated, her voice full of hurt.
"Oh hell!" He moaned, turning his back on her as he braced his hands against the stable gate in front of him. "Don't look at me like that."
"Why?" She couldn't understand what was going on.
"Because if you do, it will make it all the harder for me to walk out that door and say goodnight." He confessed, taking a deep breath to drive away the feelings inside of him. He wondered how much the man who ran the bath house charged for a tub of cold water.
"Then why go? I am not ready to say goodnight Vin. We can stay here and talk." She suggested, trying to think of anything to make him stay.
"If I stay, talking will not be the only thing we would do." He guaranteed, hoping his words would frighten her enough so that she would bolt and run. But it backfired.
"That is fine with me." She said, but even though she tried to sound like a woman of the world, she felt her voice betray her. She reached up and let her hand move slowly up his back, feeling him stiffen at her touch. "Look at me Vin."
He reluctantly turned to face her, feeling what little resolve he had left melt away at the sight of her.
"I may be naive when it comes to the west, but I know how I feel about you. I am tired of playing by the rules, dancing around my feelings as if it were some sort of game. I have never met anyone like you before, and I know I never will again. I want you in my life, Vin Tanner, but if you don't feel the same in return, I want you to tell me now before I go too far."
Vin found it hard to swallow or speak. He couldn't believe his good fortune. Here was the woman of his dreams standing there telling Vin that she wanted him. And yet, he knew he was just about to break her heart.
"I would do anything if it were possible for us to be together Victoria. But there are things about me and my past that you don't know, and I can't in good consciences offer you anything because of it. I am sorry." Boy was he sorry!
Victoria looked up at him in horror, her hand flying up to cover her mouth in shock.
"You're ……married?" She guessed, feeling that was the only explanation. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought. He was a married man? A man who had already pledged his life to another. And where was this wife, she wondered, back at home someplace taking care of their children? Children!? No! She closed her eyes so as not to picture Vin's children. Tears began to roll down her cheek at the thought of another woman giving Vin the children she never would. "Oh Vin, how could you?" She cried, turning on her heals and running from the livery half blinded by her tears.
"Victoria, wait!" Vin called after her, unable to let her believe what she was thinking.
But Victoria didn't get very far before she ran right into the strong arms of Ezra as he and JD came around the corner.
"Whoa there." Ezra laughed, grabbing hold of her with both hands. But his smile faded instantaneously when he saw that she was crying. "What's this….. tears?" He looked up and saw Vin heading towards them and jumped immediately to the wrong conclusion. Gently turning Victoria over to JD's awaiting arms he stood between her and the approaching man. "Stand where you are Mr. Tanner." Ezra warned.
Oh hell, Vin thought stopping where he was. Things were getting more mixed up every second. Now with Ezra and JD involved there would be no way out of this without a long lengthy explanation.
"Victoria." Vin leaned to one side, trying to see her face from behind where Ezra stood, protecting the crying girl. "If you would just let me explain."
"Just leave me alone!" She yelled instead, tearing herself from JD's comforting hold and running up the sidewalk towards her apartment.
Vin lunged forward, wanting to go after her, but Ezra continued to block his path. And to top is all off, with a flick of his wrist Ezra's spring loaded Derringer came flying out into his grasp, pointed directly at Vin's chest.
"Don't make me shoot you." Ezra informed him, his voice making it clear to Vin that he meant it.
JD had been at a loss up until now, allowing Ezra to take control. But as he watched Victoria, the sweetest and most kind hearted girl he had ever known aside from his own mother, running down the sidewalk in tears, he became enraged.
Stepping up to Vin he swung at the taller man with all his might, enjoying the way Vin's head snapped back as his fist collided with his chin. His hand hurt like the devil, but he refused to give Vin the satisfaction of knowing it as he shouted at him.
"What is the matter with you? I thought you were a decent guy. But apparently you have no honor if you would treat Miss Victoria this way!" He pulled back his arm, ready to strike again.
"Don't do it kid!" Vin growled, his deadly serious tone stopping him in mid swing. "I can forgive you once, don't push me a second time." He rubbed his chin, wiggling his jaw back and forth to make sure it was still in tact. The kid sure packed a wallop when he was upset.
"Then care to tell us what all that was about? Or should we just get the tar and feathers and be done with it?" Ezra asked, suggesting the most humiliating way of running a scoundrel out of town.
"Nothing happened. I mean I didn't attack her or anything, if that is what you are thinking. We just had a misunderstanding." Vin confessed.
"Apparently a pretty serious one to reduce her to tears." Ezra countered, not willing to let Vin off the hook without a full explanation. "Now tell us the whole story before my finger gets too itchy and I accidentally shoot you."
Vin saw no way around it. All he wanted to do was go after Victoria, but these two 'would be protectors' were not going to budge. So he started from the beginning, telling them about the bounty on his head and ending with how Victoria misunderstood that he had a wife. When he was finished, Ezra lowered his gun with a believing nod.
"Then you do indeed have a quandary to resolve." He said. "But I think you are overlooking the simplest of solutions."
"What?" Vin asked, willing to try anything.
"Tell her about it and let her decide what she wants to do. You can not protect her from the truth forever, and if you care about her at all, you will give her the benefit of the doubt. She just might surprise you." Ezra suggested.
"But I am a wanted man!" Vin persisted, not able to get past that.
"Yes, to be sure." He pointed back to the way she had gone. "And there went the woman who wants you. I know we don't know each other very well, Mr. Tanner. But I am sure you are not as big a fool to let someone like Miss Victoria slip away from you. And if you are, then I am afraid I must resign from this troop, for fear that your stupidity might rub off on to me." He stepped aside and gave Vin one of his lady killer smiles. "No go after her man."
Vin looked at Ezra for only the time it took for his heart to beat once, reminding him that it now belonged to Victoria, before he strode out of the livery and up the sidewalk towards the newspaper office.
Ezra stepped into the door way and watched him go, an almost sad smile of satisfaction on his face.
"Why did you do that?" JD asked, looking from Ezra, to Vin and back again. "I thought you liked Victoria too? Why would you send him after her?"
"Because, my young friend." Ezra explained, his southern drawl always extra thick when doling out advice. "When you reach my age, you learn that there are many ways a man can find pleasure in a woman. There is the obvious way of course. But there are those rare moments when you are given the opportunity to stand aside and be a catalyst. To set in motion the wheels of fortune that will ultimately bring you more joy at the sight of what you have accomplished. And that, JD, is the joy I will seize upon when I see the look of happiness on Victoria's face after this is all resolved."
"If you say so Ezra." JD said. "But if you ask me, I think this stinks."
Ezra looked at his young friend with a smile. Some day he would understand.
"Why don't we do a good deed and take this box of books down to the church before something happens to them and Victoria will have to order them all over again." And picking up the heavy wooden crate, they headed down the sidewalk as well.
Victoria ran all the way up to her room, and after slamming the door she threw herself on the bed and cried as if her heart would break. She was sobbing so hard that she didn't hear Vin at her door until he spoke.
"Victoria. Please open the door." Vin said from outside. He could hear her crying and it pained him like a turning knife in his gut.
"Go away. I don't want to see you." She lied. She did want to see Vin, every day for the rest of her life she wanted to see him. But not as another woman's husband, she could never face him as that.
Vin tried the door, he was not about to let this misunderstanding go on any longer. It was unlocked and he opened it uninvited, stepping inside.
Victoria heard him come in and lifted her head to look at him.
"Get out!" She shouted, reaching under her and throwing her pillow at him.
He caught it easily, not what you would call a deadly missile.
"Just give me a minute to explain." He begged walking over to the bed. He watched as she scrambled up, standing on the other side, keeping the bed between them.
"Explain what? Explain how you lead me on? Left me thinking you were a free man and that you could honestly have cared for me?" She crossed her arms and shook her head, looking more like a pouting child than the furious lady she was. "No. I am not listening to another word you say."
"I don't have a wife, Victoria. I am not married and I have never been married."
He told her, not caring if she wanted to listen or not.
"What?" She turned and looked at him, the stubborn expression leaving her face. "But you said……"
"I never said I had a wife, you just assumed that was what I meant." He corrected.
"Oh." Victoria's voice was hardly over a whisper as she sat down on the bed, a blank look on her face. She tried desperately to remember his exact words but after all that had just happened she was finding it hard to think straight. She looked up at him in confusion. "Then why, Vin?"
Vin came around the bed and sat down beside her and with a deep breath he told her the whole story. Of how he had been after Eli Joe, a man wanted for bank robbery as well as a few other things, when the tables got turned on him. He ended up framed for murder by the very man he had been chasing. And since he couldn't prove he was innocent without Eli, who was now no where to be found, he ran. Thus making himself look all the more guilty and ending up with a bounty on his own head.
"I am a wanted man, Victoria. And if I can't clear my name back in Tuscosa, then I have to keep running." He looked at her face and gave a sad smile. "You have been all I could think of since the day you stepped off the stage into my arms, and I would give anything to be able to say we can be together. But I have nothing to offer you, Victoria. Nothing but danger. Now do you see why I can't allow anything to start between us. I may not be around to finish it." He couldn't bear to look into her sad eyes any more, so he got up and walked to the window, pulling the curtain back as he looked down at the quiet street. "This is the first place that has felt like home to me in a long time, a very long time. And it isn't the streets, or the sidewalk or any of the buildings. It is the people. Mary, Chris, Buck and the others. They were what made me stay, longer perhaps than I should have." He turned back to her as he let the curtain fall back into place. "But mostly it is you. I have stayed for you, Victoria. And the thought of leaving you behind………"
"Shhhhh." She cut him off, getting up and coming to stand beside him. "Vin, when I thought you were married and there could never be anything between us, I wanted to die. You just gave me hope. I realize the situation you are in is a serious one, but nothing that can't be dealt with. I believe that you are innocent, and together I know we can prove it. I will do anything I can to help you, just please do not leave me out of it. Let me help you."
How could Vin express the feelings inside of him? How could he explain that every breath he took and every beat his heart made was for her. She had become so important to him that he felt the need would overwhelm him.
"Victoria." He said, cupping her face with his hands. "I love you."
They were the simplest of words. Nothing flowery like Ezra might say, or cute like JD, or even quoted from the Bible like Josiah, but they were the sweetest words Victoria had heard in her life. But before she could say them back to him, his lips came down upon hers sealing his pledge of devotion, staking his claim on her forever.
Ezra and JD were almost to the church when they spotted Josiah and Nathan coming out of it and locking the door behind them.
"Hold up." Ezra called, holding up the box in front of him. "We have to put these inside."
"What is it?" Nathan asked.
"School books I suppose." He answered, looking at the writing that was upside down, trying to read it.
"Victoria's school books?" Josiah asked, taking them out of his hand and placing them inside the door before closing it again. "Vin and Victoria are back?"
"I'll say they are." JD said, still confused by the whole scene that had just taken place at the livery.
"We better tell Chris. He is all fired up about talking to her, and told us to tell him the minute they got back into town." Nathan told them.
They didn't have to go looking for him though, for just as they were talking, Chris, Mary and Buck came out of the restaurant and walked over to the four men.
"Hey Chris." Nathan called as they approached. "Vin and Miss Victoria are back."
Chris looked a lot calmer than he had earlier, and this news seemed to relax him even more.
"How was their trip?" Mary asked Nathan.
"Don't know, I haven't seen them. Ezra and JD just told us they got back." Nathan pointed to the other men.
"So did they have any trouble?" Chris asked this time, turning to Ezra and JD for answers.
"Oh they had trouble all right, but I don't think it was on the trip to Bitter Creek." JD said, shaking his head.
"What do you mean?" Chris asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Oh nothing, just a little altercation brought on by a simple misunderstanding." Ezra broke in, trying to smooth out the wrinkles in JD's story.
"Where is she now?" Mary asked, tightening her grip on Chris's arm, trying to keep him still.
JD pointed up towards her apartment.
"She ran back to her place, or at least that was the way she was heading when we saw her last."
Chris turned to go, but Ezra's words stopped him dead in his tracks.
"I wouldn't bother them right now if I were you. Vin went after her to straighten things out and it would be safe to assume that they do not wish to be disturbed."
Chris felt the anger rise up inside of him as his fingers curled into fists at his side. Vin and Victoria up in her room alone? He didn't need to hear any more! He pulled out of Mary's hold and walked with deadly earnest towards the newspaper office.
Mary looked back at Buck, who gave a worried shake of his head before he took off at a run in order to catch up with Chris. Mary was right on their heels, followed by the rest of the confused men.
When Chris made it to the stairs that lead up to her apartment he paused just long enough to look up at the window, and that was a big mistake. For through the curtain, the silhouette of two figures could be seen, locked in a passionate kiss. This was the last and final straw for Chris, he bounded up the stairs two at a time, every thought having left his mind but one. Kill Vin.
Up in Victoria's room, the mother cat she had found in the barn had jumped out of her box at the other side of the room and had walked over to the couple. She had started rubbing up against their legs, trying her best to get their attention, but they were a little too preoccupied to notice that she wanted to be pet. But at that moment, something startled her, causing her to arch her back and let out a menacing cry. This broke the two from their kiss, causing Vin to take a step back. But when he did, the heal of his boot came down on the very tip of the cat's tail, making her leap forward with a screech. Vin immediately pulled his foot up, trying his best to get out of the way of the cat as she ran back over to her box for safety, but not before losing his balance as both he and Victoria went crashing down on the bed.
Vin landed on top of Victoria, the soft mattress giving under their weight, cushioning their fall. Vin pushed himself up on his hands quickly, trying to take his weight off of her as he looked apologetically down at her face.
"I don't suppose you planned that, did you?" Victoria asked, a sly smile coming to her lips as she lay there, still half covered by his tall frame.
Vin never got a chance to answer, for at that moment the door burst open and in stepped a very irate Chris Larabee.
Chris had not even bothered to try the door knob, he just pulled back his leg and kicked the door in. But when he entered, he no longer saw the two of them by the window kissing, as he had expected. Instead he found Vin Tanner lying across his daughter on the bed, both of them turned towards him with shocked expressions. Chris saw red.
Vin had reached for his gun out of reflex when the door bust open, but at the sight of Chris he let his hand fall away. But as he continued to watch Chris, he began to wonder if going for his gun was not such a bad idea.
"Chris? What are you……" He began, but he never got to finish.
Chris covered the space between where he stood and the bed in a matter of seconds, grabbing hold of Vin and yanked him off the bed with a force born from rage. Vin went sailing as Chris threw him across the room, only stopping when he landed on the floor as he struck the wall with a loud thud. Vin shook his head, trying to clear his vision, but when he did, he wished he hadn't. For coming at him once again was Chris, his intent clear even if his motives were not. Chris grabbed Vin by the collar and jerked him to his feet, pulling back his arm to deliver a mighty punch. Vin had recovered enough by then to duck, feeling the wind whistle above his head as Chris' fist just barely missed him. But the sudden pain in his stomach that made him double over told Vin that Chris had made a counter move.
"Stop it Chris!!" Victoria yelled, scrambling off the bed as she watched the two of them fighting. She turned as the doorway filled with more people, and seeing Mary and Buck run into the room, she called out to them for assistance. "Stop them, they will kill each other."
But to Victoria's horror, Buck was actually smiling. Mary looked as horrified as Victoria was, but even she didn't say a word to stop it.
Vin straightened up from the punch in the gut just as Chris came back at him with another fist to his face. But this time Vin was able to block his punch and throw one of his own, catching Chris squarely on the chin. He backed away as Chris stumbled back from the punch, trying to catch his breath and figure things out. It was not hard to understand that Chris was upset with Vin, but for the life of him he couldn't understand why.
"What has gotten into you, Chris?" Vin asked, his breath still labored from the punch in the gut. "What did I do to offend you?"
But Chris was not in the mood for talking, and with a leap, he grabbed Vin around the waist and the two went down.
By then the other four men had pushed their way inside and were watching the brawl before them with a mixture of amusement and concern. A good fight was always a crowd pleaser, but to see two men who were supposedly such good friends out for blood left them wondering.
"Chris! Vin!" Victoria was screaming, unsure how to get the two of them apart. If they had been dogs she would have thrown a bucket of water on them. Unfortunately there was no water available.
Vin could feel that Chris was gaining the upper hand, and since he apparently was not holding anything back, Vin decided not to either. Vin brought his foot up between the two of them and pushed against Chris' chest with all his strength, tearing him free from his grasp and throwing him back a few feet onto the floor. Vin sprang to his feet, ready to repel another attack as Chris too got up.
"That is enough!" Victoria yelled, stepping in between the two of them, putting her hand against Chris's chest in warning.
Chris was still not satisfied, he felt he had not gotten his point across to Vin yet, but the hand on his chest held him back.
"I don't believe either of you! You are supposed to be friends, for heavens sake. What is this all about?" Victoria accused, trying to sound braver than she was.
"Ask him!" Vin shouted back, touching his lip with the back of his hand, not surprised when he saw blood there. "I didn't do a thing." At least nothing he knew of that would have angered Chris this way.
"Why you lousy son of a….." Chris started, making a move for Vin again, but Victoria would not budge and held him back. "I find you up here alone with Victoria, on her bed no less, and you say that you didn't do a thing?"
"Nothing happened!" Victoria shouted back at Chris.
"And nothing is going to happen as long as I am here!" Chris assured her.
"What makes you think you can come barging in here and telling me what I can and cannot do, Chris Larabee?" Victoria inquired, poking him in the chest with her finger for emphasis. "Everyone else in this town may take orders from you, Mr., but you do not scare me. And if I want to have Vin up here in my room, or any other man for that matter, there isn't anything you can do to stop me."
Vin didn't like the 'other men' idea, but he nodded his agreement with the rest of her words to Chris.
"Yeah, what gives you the right to tell her what to do?" Vin agreed, still ready for any further action from Chris.
"What right do I have?" Chris repeated in an outraged voice. "I have the right that every father has over his daughter. The right that was given me the day she was born. That is what right I have!"
The room went silent. No one spoke as all eyes focused on Chris.
Victoria slowly turned her head away from Vin and looked up into Chris' face in shock. Could she have just heard him correctly?
All of Chris' anger melted away when Victoria shifted her gaze to him. He had not wanted to have her find out this way, but now that she knew, he held his breath waiting to see what she would do.
Vin looked from Victoria to Chris and back again. Now that he knew the truth he could see the resemblance between them. The same light hair, the same eyes and the same determined tilt of the head were a dead giveaway. And Vin could also understand what Chris must have been thinking, trying to see things through the eyes of a worried father upon finding his daughter on the bed in a man's arms. Hell, he would have attacked him too if the situation had been reversed. Vin now found he was no longer upset with Chris, but instead sympathetic for his friend's plight.
"What did you say?" Victoria asked in a quiet voice, staring up at the man who had just turned her world upside down.
Chris opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He had planned this over and over in his mind, but never had he considered this scenario. He tried again, willing his voice to come.
"Victoria, I didn't' mean for it to come out like this. But yes……. I am your father." He told her, putting his hands on either side of her shoulders.
Victoria looked around the room at the other faces, searching them for some clue, some confirmation or denial of what he was telling her. She found it in Mary's eyes, hovering there amid her tears of concern.
"It is true." Mary nodded. "Chris is your real father."
This was too much for Victoria to handle all at once. She pulled out of Chris' embrace and ran from the room, pushing Ezra and Nathan aside in her panic to escape.
Chris was after her like a shot, leaving the remaining group to look at each other in wonder.
"Chris is Victoria's long lost father?" JD repeated in disbelief. He looked over at Vin, a mixture of sympathy and humor in his voice. "You are a dead man."
Chris caught up with Victoria at the bottom of the stairs, grabbing her arm as he stopped her. She pulled away from him though, and stepped back, putting some distance between them.
"How long?" She asked, her voice unreadable.
"What?"
"How long have you known?" She continued.
"I was suspicious from the moment I saw you on the stage. But I didn't know for sure until you said you were out here looking for your past." Chris confessed, reaching a hand out to her, but pulling it back when she stepped away from it. "I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn't bring myself to say the words."
"Oh, well you did a fine job of it up there." She scoffed, rubbing her temples as if she were getting a headache. "I don't know how I can ever face Vin again after what you just did. How could you do such a thing?"
"You're my daughter." Was his only defense.
"How do I know that? You never said a word until I confessed I was looking for my lost family. What proof do you have?" She asked, but all the time knowing every thing he said had the ring of truth.
"You want proof?" He asked, stepping forward and taking her hand. He pulled her behind him as he walked across the street heading for the boarding house. "I will give you proof."
Victoria found it hard to keep up with his long strides, but she was just as anxious to see what he had to show her as he seemed to be. When they got to his room he dropped her hand, leaving her standing in the middle of the dark room as he stuck a match to light the lamp. When the room had been lit up, he reached under his bed and pulled out a pair of old worn saddle bags. Opening the flap he took something out and held it out to her.
"Is this proof enough?" He asked.
Victoria found that she was almost afraid to see what he was offering her. Her whole life, well that which she could remember, she had been waiting for this moment, and now that it was here, she was scared. She took a step forward and reached out a shaking hand as she took the metal object from him. She walked over to where the lamp sat beside the bed and looked intently at the old photo in the frame.
She couldn't believe it. It was like looking in a mirror, one that was old and faded, but a mirror none the less. She touched the photo with her fingers, as if to see if it would disapear like a ghost. She looked up at Chris who stood waiting, holding his breath.
"Is this my Mother?" She whispered, knowing it could be no one else, but still wanting to hear it from him.
"Her name was Alesha." He told her.
"She looks so much like me." She said in disbelief.
"I know." He smiled. "Even when you were little we knew you would. You were the spitting image of her even back then."
Victoria looked at the photo once more, noticing the only difference between herself and the lady looking back at her.
"Except the eyes. I don't have her eyes." He stared up at Chris, as if seeing him for the first time. "I have your eyes." Why had she not noticed it before? The truth had been there all the time, but she had been oblivious to it. She sat down on the bed, her legs unable to hold her any longer.
Chris came and sat down beside her, taking the photo from her and holding it out so they could both see.
"This was taken when you were four years old." He told her, pointing to the child standing beside the chair her mother sat in. "We had all gone to Gadsden on a shopping trip and your mother had insisted we get our picture taken while we were there. You had moved around and wiggled so much during the whole thing that we wondered if the photo was going to turn out. But it did."
"I don't remember any of it." She said quietly.
"You were only four." He explained. "You probably wouldn't."
"But I don't remember anything else either. I see the woman in the picture, I believe you when you say she is my Mother, but I don't remember her." Her voice was rising in panic. "I always thought that once I learned the truth, it would all come back to me. Like a wave of memories that were all bottled up. But I can't remember her."
"Give it time, this is a lot to take in at once." He told her, trying to comfort her as best as he could. He remembered how overwhelmed he had been by all this, so he understood what she was feeling. He did have to admit that it hurt him a little that she didn't remember him either. "I will tell you everything you want to know, so don't force yourself to remember, let it come back easy."
She looked up at him, her face a mixture of anticipation and embarrassment.
"What….." She gave a little smile. "What was…. I mean is, my name."
Chris too had to smile at her question.
"Christine." He answered. "Christine Marie Larabee."
Victoria said the name aloud several times, getting the feel of it.
"I was named after you?" She questioned.
"Yes. It was your mother's idea. She thought I was going to be disappointed that you were not a boy, so she insisted we name you after me anyway." He laughed, remembering how worried she had been that day.
"Were you?"
"Not for one second. The minute they put you in my arms I fell so totally in love with you that I couldn't even remember why I had wanted a son in the first place. And as you grew up, I couldn't imagine my life without you." He reached up and brushed a wisp of hair out of her eyes. "And the day I lost you and your mother was the worst day of my life."
"What happened? How did you lose us?" She reached out and took his hand, pleading for understanding with her eyes.
"You and your mother were on your way to Minnesota to visit your grandmother when the stage you were in was robbed. I don't know what happened after that, I was not there to protect you." He looked away, the guilt eating away at him still. "I was told you both had died. That the two graves I have been mourning over all these years belonged to you and your mother. But when you stepped out of that stage, and I saw my little girl standing before me, all grown up and beautiful. I realized I was wrong. You survived somehow and wandered off." He reached for her other hand and gave it a squeeze. "And if I had known that you had lived, I would never have rested until I found you, you have to believe that!"
Victoria knew he meant it, she could see the truth shining in his eyes.
"It killed me when you told us about how the Ashford's found you, hurt and wandering alone. I wanted to reach across the table that night and take you in my arms and tell you how sorry I was that you had to go through that all alone. I was your father and I should have been there to protect you. Can you ever forgive me?" His voice was hoarse with emotion.
"Forgive you? For what?" She asked. "There is nothing to forgive."
"But all this time…… we missed so much." He argued.
"Then we will just have to work extra hard to make up for that." She looked at him questioningly. "I mean if you want to that is."
"If I want to?" He couldn't believe her words. "There is nothing in this world I want more. You are my little girl, my baby. Of course I want to know you. I want to know all your hopes, all your dreams, what you like, what you don't like and what you want out of life." He assured her.
She grew quiet, looking at him with serious eyes.
"I want Vin." She told him.
Chris took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"I know." He got up and walked over to the window, running his fingers through his hair trying to think how to handle this. "And I am sorry for acting the way I did back there. My only excuse is that I have not had much experience dealing with these protective father feelings. I didn't have a chance to break slowly into it like I had planned when you were born. You went from a child of six to a woman of twenty one overnight as far as I was concerned. I was not ready for the idea that men find you desirable, and I went a little overboard I guess."
"A little overboard?" Victoria laughed, coming over to stand by him, an amused look on her face. "I thought you were going to kill Vin, or he was going to kill you."
"Well I won't underestimate him a second time." Chris assured her, rubbing his sore jaw remembering how Vin had held his own in the face of his rage.
"Will there be a next time?" She asked, afraid of the answer.
"Not if he keeps his hands off my daughter." Chris smiled, but it didn't hide the seriousness in his voice.
"I love him. Please don't ask me to give him up just because you can't come to terms with the idea that I am a grown woman."
Chris could see that she was close to tears. He felt like a heel. He reached out, taking her in his arms, holding his baby girl close to him. He felt a tug at his heart as her arms came around too encircle him as well. It had been a long time.
"I am sure we can work something out. But there are some things you need to know about Vin Tanner, and I don't think you should be hearing them from me." At the least he owed Vin that.
"If you are referring to the fact he is a wanted man, I already know." She informed him, her voice muffled against his chest.
Chris pulled her away, looking at her questioningly.
"He told you?" Chris's respect for Vin jumped a peg. "You know and you still want to be with him?"
"I love him. And I don't care what I have to do to keep him. If he has to live on the run, then I will go too. I can't live without him, he has come to mean too much to me." Her tone anxious.
"Did he ask you to go with him?" Chris' anger towards Vin skyrocketed at the thought of him being so selfish as to do something like that.
"No of course he didn't." She was quick to defend him. "And even if he won't let me, I will still follow him. Haven't you ever loved someone so much you would do anything to be with them?"
Chris knew exactly how she felt.
"Every time I look at you I am reminded of that." He assured her. "You look so much like your mother." He tipped her chin up until she was looking at him. "I will help Vin clear his name." He had already pretty much decided to do that before Victoria came to town, but she didn't have to know that.
Victoria threw her arms around Chris' neck and hugged him tight, reminding him of how she had done so as a child.
"Thank you!" She cried. "I know there has to be a way to fix all this. Life wouldn't be so cruel as to let me find him only to lose him for something he didn't do." She reasoned. "Thank you so much, Chris." She pulled back and looked at him. "I suppose I should call you Dad, but it might take some getting used to."
"Take all the time you need." He kissed her gently on the forehead. Then reaching down to the saddle bags he had laid on the bed, he pulled out Alesha's shawl.
"I kept this all these years, never having any idea I might have the chance to give it back to you." He unwrapped the shawl to reveal the doll Buck had given her, placing it in her hands.
"Molly?" Victoria whispered.
"You remember her?" Chris asked, trying not to let the hope in his voice show too much.
"I remember…………." She began slowly, trying to sort out the images and feelings flooding her senses. "I remember that someone said that if I hug her, it would be them hugging me back." She then looked up at Chris with a shocked face. "Who gave her to me?"
"Buck did. You used to call him Uncle Buck." He reminded her.
"Buck?" She looked at the doll in her hands in amazement, trying to fit all the pieces together. Then her eyes grew wide. "He used to call me Baby Sister, didn't he?"
"Yes. You were so happy that day."
"I wish I could remember more, but I am just getting it in bits and pieces. No full memories." She said disappointedly.
"Like I said, don't force it. Let it come naturally."
"I will try, but it is hard not to. I want to remember everything all at once, not wait for it to return, assuming it ever will." She confessed.
"No matter if it does or not, you will never have to wonder who you are again. You are Christine Larabee, and you are my daughter. Never forget that." He cupped her face in his hands, giving her a loving smile.
"I never will again, I promise." She reached up and kissed his cheek, watching as tears began to form in his eyes.
Vin had been as patient as possible, but he couldn't stand it any longer. It felt like the two of them had been up in Chris' room forever. And when Mary was unable to persuade him to wait one minute more, she followed him up the stairs, flanked by Buck.
Chris and Victoria were talking quietly when they heard the footsteps stop outside the door, followed by a quiet knock. Chris smiled at Victoria knowingly as he got up and opened the door. He tried to keep his expression stern as he faced Vin, wanting to keep him off kilter a little longer. The worried look on Mary's face however, softened him somewhat, he could see that she was very concerned about how things were going. Chris stepped aside, allowing the three to enter as Victoria got up and came forward.
Buck was shocked to see that Victoria was holding the rag doll he had given her in her arms. He had not known that Chris had kept it all those years. When Chris had left town after Alesha and Christine's death, he had not wanted to take anything with him is seemed, telling Buck to sell everything along with the house.
"I remembered Molly, Buck." She said proudly. "And I hope in time I will remember more."
"Me too, Baby Sister." He laughed, catching her in his arms as she hugged him tight. "Oh man, I have missed you!"
Victoria hugged Mary next, laughing until the two women were crying.
"I found my family, Mary. I can't believe it." She said, looking around at the men in the room. Her eyes came to rest on Vin, his quiet smile telling her how happy he was for her. She then looked at Chris, her eyes hopeful.
Chris knew what she wanted, and he figured he might as well get it over with.
"Buck, take Mary and Victoria back over to her place. I need to talk to Vin alone."
Buck looked from one man to the other, seeing fear in both their eyes and knowing it was going to be a hard talk. But nodding, he did as Chris said, holding open the door so the women could follow.
Victoria leaned up quickly to Chris, kissing him on the cheek as she whispered quietly.
"Be nice." She ordered, giving him a stern look.
Chris just nodded, his face unreadable as Buck ushered the two ladies out the door.
Vin and Chris were left alone, each one watching the other with suspicion and uncertainty. At last Chris moved away, walking to the night stand and pulling out an almost full bottle of whiskey. He tossed it to Vin, who caught it deftly as he removed a couple of shot glasses from the same drawer. For emergencies, he had thought when he had put the bottle there, and this definitely counted as an emergency. The two men walked silently to the table and sat down, facing each other as Vin filled the glasses.
They had drunk a full glass each and was working on the second when Chris finally spoke.
"I suppose it is a little late to be asking you what your intentions are towards my daughter." He mused, figuring that the customary questions didn't apply here. "And she has already told me how she feels about you. The only question now is what you intend to do about it."
Vin looked at Chris in shock. Was he actually giving him a choice. He had come up expecting Chris to tell him to leave town, or worse yet, call him out. Vin downed the rest of his glass in one gulp before speaking.
"I won't lie to you Chris. I am in love with Victoria, and as much as it surprises me to hear myself saying this, I want to marry her."
"I see." Chris was remaining amazingly calm, or at least he thought so. "I appreciate your honesty. Now I only hope you appreciate mine. I won't let my daughter be set up for a fall by attaching herself to a wanted man. It is too dangerous for her and I will not stand by and let her be put in harms way."
Vin nodded. It hurt to hear it, but he knew it was true. She would be in danger every day she was with him, and even he knew he couldn't live with that.
"But….." Chris continued, noticing the defeated slump of Vin's shoulders. "She has her heart set on you and there is no persuading her otherwise. She is a stubborn thing, takes after me that way." His lips curling into a smile of pride. "So the only way I can see around all this is to clear your name and get this bounty off your head. Then, and only then, will I consider your request for Victoria's hand. Deal?" Chris realized he was taking liberties, he knew Victoria would do whatever she wanted, her father's wishes be damned. But he was counting on Vin's sense of honor and respect for Chris to keep him on his side. He still respected Vin, even though he was trying to hate him, and he knew he was trustworthy enough to keep his word.
The very first time Vin had looked across the street of Four Corners and met the steeled eyes of Chris Larabee he knew his life was about to change. He just never thought it would be so drastic a change. He had grown to consider Chris one of the best friends he had, and for a loner like Vin, that was saying a lot. And now as he looked across the table, he knew that nothing was going to stop him from clearing his name and proving himself worthy of Chris' trust and Victoria's love.
"Deal." He said, reaching over and taking Chris' hand, shaking it firmly. He couldn't help but smile a little when he saw Chris flinch when he squeezed his hand, the same hand he had spit Vin's lip with.
"Oh and one more thing." Chris said, leaning in close, his voice low and menacing. "If you ever do anything to hurt my daughter, it will make the trouble you're in now seem like a Sunday picnic. Because if you ever cause Victoria a moment of pain, I will hunt you down, and there's not any place you can hide from me."
Vin nodded to Chris, knowing he meant ever word.
Two days later Chris and Victoria stood at the bottom of Razor's Bluff. Victoria leaned down and placed a bouquet of flowers at the head of each grave stone, before straightening up and leaning back against her father's chest.
"I wish I could remember her." She said quietly, disappointed that no memories of her mother had returned since Chris had told her the truth.
"She would be very proud of the woman you have become." Chris assured her, kissing the top of her head as he put his hands on her shoulders.
They were quiet for a time, both lost in different thoughts.
Victoria then turned to go, but seeing that Chris needed just a few minutes more she smiled.
"I will wait by the horses." She told him, she took his hand as she backed away, letting go only when the space between them became too great. Then, turning away, she left him alone.
Chris removed his hat and looked down as he toyed with it in his hands.
"I have Christine back now, Lesha." He said quietly to the silent grave stone. "I will take care of her, for the both of us, and see that she has a happy life. I am sorry you aren't here to see her now, she is just like we always dreamed she would turn out." He looked up at the horizon, his eyes squinting from the early afternoon sun. "But I need to move on now. I will never forget you, and I will always love you Alesha. But I have to say goodbye now." And pulling out the worn shawl he had carried for so long, he draped it lovingly over the grave stone, and with one final lingering touch, he turned and walked back to where Victoria stood with the horses.
"We better get moving if we want to make it home by night fall." He said, not looking directly at his daughter, not wanting her to see the look in his eyes.
Victoria seemed to understand and didn't attempt conversation for some time after the two of them headed out.
"Vin said the two of you decided to wait until Judge Travis gets back before heading for Tuscosa." She said at long last.
"Figured it might help having a judge in our corner. Might make the law in Tuscosa sit up and take notice." He nodded.
"I am going too, you know." She gave him a side glance, anxious to see his reaction.
"Figured as much." He drawled.
"You won't try and stop me?" She asked, surprised at his easy tone.
"Would it work?" He grinned at her.
"No." She laughed back, amazed at how well he could read her already. "I told Vin not to try and leave me out of any of this, and I just wanted to make sure you knew it too."
"Are you threatening your old man?" Chris laughed.
"I don't threaten." She acted all appalled at this accusation. "I just remember that you could never say no to me."
"I see, you think you can still wrap me around you finger. Well little girl, if you try, you will find…………that you are absolutely correct." He admitted, shaking his head, but not regretting a word. "Seems to me that your memory comes back a might too conveniently when it suits you."
"Yep." She lifted her chin, smug in her power over him. "And I was just remembering something else too." She began in a teasing manner. "I recall my asking you for something, and you have yet to deliver."
"Oh?" Chris searched his memory, trying to think of what it might have been.
"I recall you telling me that you would give some serious consideration to getting me a baby brother." She flashed a devilish smile at him. "And isn't it handy that Mary Travis just happens to have a little boy, who I am sure is just itching to have a big sister."
Chris stopped Nero in his tracks, looking over at Victoria as if she had just sprouted two heads. When did she become so wise, not to mention pushy, he thought.
"Well Christine Marie Larabee." He began, leaning forward in his saddle and resting his arm on the pommel. "Like I said, I never could tell you no."
Victoria smiled at his use of her real name, pleased that he seemed open to her idea about him and Mary.
"That's what I was counting on." She laughed back, as the two kicked their horses into a gallop as they raced back towards town.
Dusk had fallen over the quiet town as the two of them rode in, Victoria smiling as she saw Mary step outside the newspaper office. She folded her arms and leaned up against the doorway, regarding the two of them with a pleased smile. Further down the street she saw Vin, Buck and Ezra rise from the chairs they were occupying in front of the jail, and come up the street to greet them. Nathan, Josiah and JD appeared too, as they brought their horses to a halt.
"How was your trip?" Vin asked, walking over to stand beside Victoria's horse.
"Long, but worth it." She brought her foot over the neck of the horse as Vin reached up, his hands on her waist as he eased her down in front of him. "But I am glad to be home." She let her arms slide around his neck as she looked at him with love filled eyes.
Vin could feel a shiver run through him as she stood there in his arms, looking so delightful that he felt compelled to kiss her. But he quickly looked up at Chris, who still sat on his horse, as if to ask permission before he took such liberties.
Victoria also tilted her head up at Chris, an innocent smile teasing her lips as if to beg for consent. She knew that Vin and her father were on good terms once again, and she was determined not to do anything that might put them at odds. She knew she would get her way, but she figured she would let Chris at least think he was in control.
"Ah hell." Chris sighed, tipping his hat down low, as if to say he was not looking as he dismounted his horse.
Vin and Victoria took that as a yes and Vin leaned down and claimed her lips, not caring who was watching as he kissed the woman he loved. He would be a free man some day, and when that day came, nothing was going to stop him from making Victoria his wife. His life completely revolved around her now, she had tamed his drifter spirit, and he would never regret it.
Chris kept his eyes straight ahead, not daring to look back at the scene behind him, for fear it would rile him. Instead he focused on a much more pleasant view, that of Mary Travis as she waited for him up on the sidewalk. He looked at Buck who stood next to him and gave him a grin.
"Take care of Nero for me, will you Buck." he said, handing him the reins. "I have some business of my own to take care of."
Buck looked from his friend to Mary and then gave him the biggest smile he owned.
"No problem." He nodded, watching as Chris came up beside Mary, sliding his hand around her waist and escorting her back inside the newspaper office. Mary had a look of confusion on her face as they went, but she didn't resist one little bit.
Buck looked from where Chris and Mary had gone over to where Vin and Victoria stood kissing in the street.
"Love is in the air, boys." He said to Ezra, JD, Nathan and Josiah with a proud smile, as if he were to thank for it all.
"Indeed it is, my friend." Ezra agreed. "Indeed it is."
(If you have enjoyed the saga of Vin and Victoria, don't miss the exciting action packed sequel, due out soon. Follow our Seven Heroes and two Heroines as they battle to clear the good name of Vin Tanner)
Four Corners Chronicle
'Wanted' page
