CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Bessy stood for a long time, staring down at the inert mass lying on her kitchen floor. A hope, temporary, as fleeting as a summer breeze drifted into her mind – this was all a horrible dream, that all she needed to do was close her eyes, turn around and life would return to how it was. Clean, dull, predictable. But no, when she finally steeled herself to force her eyes open again, he remained as he was after she’d hit him. Bourne. Dead.
Her first instinct was to run. To bundle together a few items, saddle up one of Destry’s little ponies from the livery, and beat a retreat east, to her old home in Ohio. Her parents were long gone but her cousin Rosa continued to live there and now that the War between the States was over, travelling would be so much safer and she could
