March 5, 1870

Colorado. 

This morning, I talked with Hakuna and a Mexican man named Alex about Suzy causing trouble in town. After a while I started to get some writing done. I talked with Alva and then headed out to Devil’s Ditch where I worked in the saloon. 

Jake Stone came into the saloon and asked how I was doing. “I’m alright. Was an interesting weekend so still tryin’ to process everything. Did you hear about my brother bein’ in town?” 

“Didn’t know you had a brother,” he looked at me with surprise. 

“I hadn’t seen him in almost six years… For him to just show up I knew something was wrong,” I pulled out the medal he’d given me and played with it on the counter. 

“Wow, that’s a long time. What brought him to town?” 

“He came to tell me our father had been killed. Shot in the ranch where he was tending cattle,” I swallowed hard. 

“Oh I’m sorry to hear that Miss Trin,” Jake lowered his head. 

“I’d seen him a couple months ago. When I was in Georgetown I went to visit my folks. They live... lived up in Canada where I’m from. Mom’s out there all alone and I’m worried about her. Josh sent to hear word about the funeral but we haven’t heard back yet.” 

“Canada! thats quiet aways up there. I assume you two will be making the trip when ya get word? Are you bringing your mother back here with you when you return?” 

“I have no idea. Guess it depends if she wants to move but I doubt she will. All her family is there other than us two kids. Josh moved to Pensylvannia about six years ago when he got a job there. I moved to Texas a couple years after that when I was gonna get married but..” 

“So you ended up here…” he nodded. 

“My fiancé died in a stagecoach accident. I stayed in Texas with his sister for a year before making my way to Amiville.” 

“Seems everyone ends up here due to a death,” he shook his head. 

“And now Josh is thinking about staying around and helping me take pictures for the paper. He’s pretty protective of me and I think when he saw that I’m living with a man I think he got ... cautious.” 

“You’re living with a man unwed?” his eyes widened.

“Well... it’s hardly like he’s around often. I don’t feel safe living on my own. I never have. He’s usually off and doing his own thing by the time I wake up. He just got a job as a doctor here in town.” 

“Reckon we need more docs round here.” 

“He’s one of the best too.” 

“I’ll take your word for it. I sure do not want to test his skills,” he smiled. 

“I know you don’t like the idea, Reverend... But in this day and age a woman living alone is like putting a target on her back. Especially with a job like mine and the types of contacts I have to make in order to show both sides of the story… It would be suicide to live alone.” 

“A woman who depends on a man for safety prolly shouldn’t have such a dangerous job. If you enjoy your work you should least be able to defend yourself..” 

“When I’m trying to promote peace through words instead of bullets and violence it would be hypocritical for me to carry a gun,” I shook my head. 

“Instead it sounds to me like an excuse. To use this man for a place to live...or for other things.” 

“If that’s what you think of me then you don’t know me at all, Reverend. I take my job very seriously.” 

“I’m just tryin to make sense of what you saying miss,” Jake smiled. 

“I am blessed to have such a good man who will stand by my side and support me and protect me.” 

“Yes a good man is a blessing and if thats the case and he does stand by you why havn’t you two wed yet?” 

I chuckled, knowing that would be his next question. “We’ve only been together for about a month. We don’t want to rush anything. We’re taking the time to get to know one another.” 

“Lord have mercy on her soul!” Jake threw his hands in the air. “You have just met this man and you live in the same house together!” 

“For protection,” I looked at him seriously. 

“Miss Trin…” he shook his head. 

“Did I mention the fact that he’s hardly here at night and works at the hospital most evenings anyway?” 

Jake started to quote the Bible and said, “O God, the protector of all that trust in thee, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; that, thou being our ruler and guide, we may pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal.. See miss Trin, as long as you are true to the Lord he will always protect you.” 

I went back to get some more whiskey and coffee and sat back down. “I am well aware that the Lord protects us. You think I survived a fort ambush, two dynamite attacks, a gun battle, a threat from a gang, and a knife attack by sheer human protection?” I looked at Jake. 

“Just because God protects us doesn’t mean that we lose all sense of smarts and just make ourselves sitting targets for these attacks.” 

“Then why would you try to tell me you live with a man for protection?” Jake smiled. 

I looked at Jake, starting to roll up my sleeve and showing him the knife cut from Bill many months ago. “You see that, Reverend? That is what happens when I try to fight evil forces on my own, without someone else’s help. I will not put myself in that position again.” 

“Yes, I see miss Trin, and you telling me you need protection from a man because you have a scar? We all have scars. we all have fears. But we all don’t live with folks unwed and claim it to be for ‘protection’ miss Trin.” 

“You’re missing my point, or not hearing it on purpose, but that’s your prerogative,” I said. 

“Well then answer me this. Where is your brother living now?” 

I sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to lay off. We talked for a bit longer and then I headed home. 

*** 

This afternoon I talked with DD, hoping she wasn’t like the rest of her tribe members. “How are you doing little one?” I asked, leaning down to the child’s level. 

“DD good,” she smiled. 

“Glad to hear that. How’s your mommy and daddy?” 

“Them good.” 

“Glad to hear that. I have missed them.” 

“Went to a fest other night. Was lot fun.” 

“Oh did you? Glad to hear that..” 

“Apache village. Yes was good time.” 

I nodded, remembering Nah mentioning something about it. “It’s good that you all get along.” 

“DD go ride some more.” 

“I’ve missed you too, little one. You ride safe.” 

The child waved as she rode down the street. 

I talked with Ella who didn’t know what she should do for a living. Conner joined us and he greeted us both. He said he was looking for a man named Fame McFarlane and someone named Salvator, but I didn’t recognize either name. We went to the saloon and had a drink and met a man named Sabian who said he was going to be a preacher in town. He said that he invited her to preach there with him since he wanted to slow down a bit. 

Josh came into the saloon then and I introduced him to everyone. I asked if there was any word from mom but he said that there wasn’t. Conner told me that the men he was looking for had warrants on them. Josh said that he heard back about his things and that they were on their way to Colorado. 

When we heard gunshots outside, I took Josh outside and looked both ways to see which way the shooting was coming from. “You okay, kiddo?” he asked.

“Let’s go this way, Josh,” he said and we headed towards the saloon in Devil’s Ditch. “Just wanted to get away from the shooting,” I told him when we got there. “Can’t report on stories if I’m directly in the line of fire.” 

“You don’t mind if I do a bit of writing do you?” I asked him and got to writing as Josh decided to take a nap in his chair. 

Tom walked in after a while and I greeted him. “Work go okay today?” 

“Yeah. It was pretty slow today.” 

“Guess that’s a good thing in your business,” I winked at him. “Haven’t seen Chet around much these days.” 

“He’ll be around. I can almost smell him now.” 

The door got kicked open and shouted, “This ain’t a time for drinking, it’s time to skin some injuns!” 

“What’s wrong, Chet?” I jumped at the noise and turned. 

“What’s going on? What’s going on!?? Did ya not tell Trin about Lou ’n her attack by Injuns last night?” Chet blinked and looked at Tom. 

I looked between them, waiting for one of them to explain. “This is so typical. Last to know about everything,” I sighed. 

“She skinned her knee, They frightened her. She didn’t know what to do,” Tom said. 

“Never attacked her though, I talked to her about it,” Tom said. 

“Start from the beginning guys,” I sighed. 

“They hurt her was more like arrow or tomahawk skinned her knee. I say it’s time we go after them get yer guns,” Chet said. “Last night lady friend of mine was out fer a walk she noticed 3 injuns at entrance to devil’s ditch. She was scared n did not notice till she got here that she had been injured tom fixed her up.” 

“Your friend named Lou?” 

“That’s true,” Tom nodded. 

“Yes… are you drunk?” Chet looked at me. 

“Just confused. Ya’ll are givin me information out of order here. She’d been injured before she arrived in Devil’s Ditch then... why?” I glared at Chet. 

“No, she was fine till saw injuns they must have shot arrow or through something at her leg,” Chet said. 

“Why?” I asked again.

“Because they savages.” 

“There had to be a reason, Chet. She had never met any of them before last night?” 

“They don’t need reason ’n I gonna go out today n start thinning the herd,” Chet said. 

“Let me talk to them,” I sighed and looked at him. 

“No there been enough talk now is time for action woman. All women wanna do is talk talk talk… no more talk. It’s time to do something,” he then looked at Tom and said, “Get yer shotgun.” 

“Chet…” I sighed and stood to block the door. “Move away or I’ll shoot ya in the leg if I have to,” he tapped his shotgun. 

“Chet I swear... That gun is gonna get you killed. You really think going to shoot them down is gonna solve the problem? They’ll just send more after you.” 

“Trin listen to me. No one here in whole town has stood up to them. They thinking they can do as they please. They need to know that we not scared of them n I aim to show them .” 

“Damn it, Chet,” I swore, getting more upset. “I thought you were on my side. What happened to all that talk in the courthouse about trying to understand them and serving them drinks huh?” I looked to Tom for help, wishing my brother were awake. 

“Point is, we don’t know if they actually hurt her. It looked like a skin scrape.” 

I held out my hand to Tom, looking at Chet. “See? You go in there guns blazin’ and it might not even have been their fault.” 

“They don’t seem to want to be friends. They testing to see how far they can get away with things n they need know we can push back too.” 

“You don’t know it was them,” I looked at Chet. 

“What’s going on?” Josh woke up then. 

“What they doing in Devil’s Ditch? They sure as heck wasn’t drinking,” Chet fumed. 

I looked from Chet to Josh. “He wants to go shoot indians ’cause his friend MAY HAVE been shot down by them, though Tom says it was just a scrape and might not have even been from the natives. And I’m not getting out of the way until Chet calms down.” 

“Violence is never the answer. That will only make things worse,” Josh sighed. 

“See?” I looked at them. 

“I see that I gonna have to go after them myself,” Chet said. “Maybe get marshal to round up some men not afraid of Injuns.” 

“Damn it, Chet…” I shook my head, backing up against the door, folding my arms across my chest defiantly. “You’ll have to get me out of the way first.” 

“How would you like it if you were attacked for doing nothing?” Josh looked over at Chet. “You have no physical evidence that it was in fact a tomahawk, or arrow injury.” 

“Tom, you any good at removing bullets from legs?” Chet looked at Josh. “Look stranger, these here Indians been doing lil attacks here n there n getting bigger numbers every day.” 

“Chet that ain’t a stranger. That’s my brother you’re talkin’ to,” I glared at him, getting more upset. 

“Pleased to meet you now talk some sense into your sister the indians need to be dealt with.” 

“Chet, You’re not doing anything until we find out more. We are the refined ones; we don’t act on instinct. We are not animals,” Tom looked at him seriously. 

“All you have is a hatred for Injuns, and an assumption that the people you hate did this to your friend,” Josh said. “You ever think that maybe they are attacking because they are scared of us settlers or maybe that us settlers took away their land? As for my sister, she has a lot of sense. I basically raised her while our father, who was murdered last month, was out at war,” Josh said. 

“I don’t hate Indians, yer sister can vouch for that. But I will not let them keep attacking without them getting payback ’n Tom, I suggest you get yer medical bag ready.” 

“You don’t even know it’s them that are attacking!” I looked at him. “Not in this case anyway! And the only person he’ll be needing those medical kits on is you, Chet,” I gave him a cold stare. 

“Seems very clearly to me that you do hate indians. It is wrong to go in and kill indians when you have no physical proof that it was in fact them,” Josh stood up then. 

Chet tapped his guns and said, “Tom, I suggest you move yer girl from the door. I really don’t want to shoot her.” 

I raised an eyebrow at how quickly things had changed and asked, “You would shoot me Chet? After all we’ve…” 

“I suggest you step away from that gun,” Josh looked at Chet firmly. 

“Nobody’s gonna shoot anyone. Sit yer ass down, and chill out before I gotta do it for you. I’m not gonna be playing doctor tonight. Not if I can help it,” Tom said sternly. 

“And you dare shoot my little sister, I will personally skin you and hand you to the indians,” Josh told him. 

“No yer right, I can’t shoot you,” Chet said and looked at Josh. “You remind me lots of your sister. Poor parents must’ve been grey by time ya guys hit two.” He then looked over at Tom and said, “I ain’t gonna shoot no woman ....but you ya never know might shoot you.” 

“You gonna serve us some drinks from back there, Chet?” I gave Chet a stare and walked over to stand beside Tom. 

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT OUR PARENTS?!” Josh shouted angrilly. “BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO SAY ANYTHING ELSE WHY DON’T YOU THINK ABOUT IT FIRST, AND DON’T YOU EVER MENTION MINE AND TRIN’S PARENTS AGAIN!” 

“Yeah, I guess help yerself. I sticking to coffee tonight,” Chet said. 

“Now Chet, I know you got an itchy trigger finger, but I swear to you, the moment we know they have attacked someone, We’ll set up a posse. Till then, we do nothing,” Tom sighed. 

“Just what we need. Two Paige’s in one town,” Chet muttered. 

I blinked and looked at Chet, wondering how he had turned against me all of a sudden. Josh clenched his fists and punched Chet and yelled, “I SWEAR, YOU SAY ONE MORE THING, I WILL BEAT YOUR ASS INTO A PULP!” 

“Okay Trin, brother or not, yer out of here. I ever see you in my saloon again, I’ll shoot you down like a dog,” Chet threatened. 

Josh walked out of the saloon and slammed the door closed. “Fine by me.” 

“Tom!” I begged for his help against Chet. 

“Don’t know what to do,” Chet shrugged. 

“Now as fer you two, I suggest ya both sit,” Chet said. 

“After the way you just treated my brother? Not happening. Not tonight,” I glared at him. 

“Yer brother threw punch at me. Did I hit him back? No. If he was not yer brother I would have beat him to a pulp. Think of that. Now again, have a seat both of you.” 

“He was your friend first. You talk some sense into him. I’m going to find my brother,” I looked at Tom. 

“Sit, or I go find Injuns,” Chet ordered. 

“I’ll do what I can, you go find your brother and calm him down,” Tom said and I nodded, walking out of the saloon without even another look to Chet. 

I went to find Josh and found him in the main saloon in town. “Josh…” I said, walking towards him. 

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” he turned to me. 

“Don’t be. I wish I could have done it myself,” I shook my head and started to pace in anger. “I can’t believe he just... and he was gonna... and then he told you…” 

“Hey come here.. shh shh…” Josh stood up. 

I backed up and shook my head. “No. He was wrong. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And after all that he wanted me to just sit and stay in that damn saloon and pretend like what just happened didn’t?!” 

“It was rude of him, and he was in the wrong completely, and WHAT,” he pulled me into his arms. “What all did he say after I left?” 

“He told me and Tom to just sit down and stay there and I said it wasn’t gonna happen, not after the way he treated you,” I backed up. “I told Tom that he was his friend first and that he should talk some sense into him. He said he would try and told me to go find you and calm you down. It’s days like these I wish I still carried a weapon,” I sighed. 

“It was wrong of him, but kiddo it is perfectly fine I have dealt with a lot worse then what Chet was doing. You have no idea how refrained I was being when he said what he said about our parents, What does he know about them?” 

“Nothing. Not a damn thing. He didn’t even know about you until he walked into the saloon and saw you there. And how on earth could you sleep through all that? I wish I had that power.” 

“I had a rough night last night, and it was a great skill I learned in Philadelphia when my house was right behind the loud factories,” he clenched his fist and loosened it. 

“I need a drink,” I nodded and went behind the counter to find a bottle of whiskey. 

“Sis…” 

I took the whiskey bottle and opened the cap, looking at him. “What?”

“You remember how you use to get when you drank angry back home?” 

“I won’t drink more than one, Josh. I’m not that stupid,” I looked at him. 

“I will make sure of it, don’t you worry kiddo… and I never said you were stupid.” 

“Good,” I took a sip of the whiskey and sat beside him at the bar. 

“Hell you were always showing off your smarts to mom.” He went over to sit beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. “You know, I don’t know what I would do if you ever got shot for someone else’s stupidity.” 

I drank my whiskey and looked over at him, wondering if I should tell him that I’d dated Chet before meeting Tom and thought against it. “He’ll regret it, that’s all I’m gonna say.” 

“It is bad enough that dad was Murdered, I don’t need you getting hurt on top of it,” he looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “What is that suppose to mean?” 

“Doesn’t matter what it’s supposed to mean. I’m not gonna let him talk to you like that.” 

“Is there something you aren’t telling me kiddo? I would hope there isn’t, I would hope you wouldn’t leave anymore secrets from me.” 

“Chet, Tom and I worked together in Georgetown. They were marshals, I was a Pinkerton Agent. Before I met Tom... Chet and I dated for about a week but we realized we were rushing into it and decided to just be friends. Then Tom came along and the three of us were inseparable. Until now, I guess,” I sighed. “Back in Georgetown…” I looked at him. “We had some problems with the Cherokee there. I alluded to this a bit when we were in Nebraska. I thought I’d allied with them, that I was having good conversation and relationships with their tribesmembers. Then one day their chief was shot down and I ran out to help him. He’d already helped me so many times before that, I couldn’t not go. But I was shot down.” 

When Josh sighed and hanged his head, I continued. “At any rate, they caught a woman who was involved and did some awful things to her then expected me to join in. I didn’t, and things were never the same after that. They set dynamite to the sheriff’s building knowing full well I was inside, even though they’d promised to leave me out of any war with the paleface. Then I was in a fort talking with a soldier about it and they ambushed the fort and set it to flames and set dynamite on the door of the room where I was hiding. I guess that sprung anger in Chet against anyone like them, thinking that all natives were going to treat me or us the same way.” 

“Kiddo…” Josh sat there in shocked silence. 

“It still doesn’t give him the right just to assume that all natives are bad and to go out shooting them when he’s got no damn proof they were even involved.” 

“That it doesn’t,” Josh nodded, “And don’t take it out on yourself for Chet’s actions against the indians, you were just being you. Always helpful and friendly, and always returning the favor. Unfortunately it turned out bad.” 

“He’ll regret it, Josh, is all I’m sayin’,” I sighed and drank the rest of the whiskey. 

“Just a warning kiddo, If he dares lay hand on you, or threatens to shoot you again, I will personally deal with him.” 

“Believe me, I know,” I nodded. 

“Plus if he makes mention of our parents again, I will deal with him. No one disrespects us Paige’s.” 

Twist walked into the saloon and we greeted her and talked for a while before I headed home to sleep off the headache that was forming.