ROMANCE: Billion Dollar Question (BWWM Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (African American Alpha Mail Order Bride New Adult) (58 page)

Chapter 7: Something Noble

Sitting in her home, Sandra Ammor is beginning to get worried. She has not seen her journal in over three weeks, before the ruckus on McCulloch St. took place. If it fell into the wrong hands, it could easily spell the end of her matchmaking, because anyone who could read would know that she had been the one writing to young mail order brides back east, pretending to be the various men who they were going to marry.

Of course, the best case scenario would be that she has simply misplaced her journal somewhere in the house she shares with her younger brother, and that no one would ever find that she is the matchmaker, and the worst case scenario would be that Tyson Abrams finds it and gets another mob together.

Or that Dwight would find it.

She swore to Dwight that she was not the matchmaker when he asked her the pointed question on McCulloch Street after he had talked down the Abrams mob several weeks ago. She had felt guilty about lying to her older brother, but she had to, didn’t she? She couldn’t let him get in the way of her noble work of bringing in some better women into this God forsaken county.

People like that whore Sally are what is bringing the area down. Then, there are the sycophantic people like Tyson who pay lip service to the Lord, but then turn around and drink like fishes and abuse their spouses.  The only way to make this community any better would be to bring in some women to marry the few good men too, who would raise their children in a genuine fear of the Lord, and thereby reform the county of its lawless and debauched ways.

Why don’t they see that? she asks herself. Do they not realize that what I am doing is for the benefit of everyone in the county? And in the best interests of the upcoming generations? Maybe they just don’t care…well, they don’t care about what the Lord thinks, so of course they think I’m crazy.

So far, each of the matches has resulted in a marriage, and Dandy and Sarah Anne are expecting a baby any day now! If it weren’t for Sandra, those two would have never met, and that baby wouldn’t be coming.  The numb skulls in Coleman don’t realize that she, Sandra Ammor, was the reason that baby is coming into the world. She is the reason that Dandy decided to settle down and become a respectable husband. She is the reason that her brother, Dwight, has been able to recover from the trauma of dear Amanda’s death. She is the reason that Junior Parker is finally happily married to a good, Christian wife who loves him for him, instead of loving him for how fat his wallet is, and how much money she can take from him to spend on herself.

Why can’t these people understand that she is doing something noble?

Chapter 8: The Regular Customer

Sally sits on the edge of the bed in her room at the Hanged Man, silently crying tears of pain and embarrassment. She may be a whore, but no woman deserves to have done to her what Tyson Abrams just did to her. Every woman should be able to say no, regardless of what she does to take care of and provide for herself.

The barbaric hypocrite stands by the door, a look of disgust on his face as he surveys the mess of a woman he leaves behind. “Get over yourself, whore. You’ve done worse for money,” he says, turning to leave. “Thank you for your help today. I’ll make sure you are rewarded justly for your assistance, when I have ruined that crazy woman’s ability to interfere in the dealings of the men in this community.”

“Just get out of here, you asshole!” screams Sally. “Leave and don’t let me ever see your face again!”

“Oh? I thought you wanted a regular customer?”

“Not you! You are disgusting!” the woman screams through her busted lip. With an almighty blow, Tyson punched her in the face, the bones in her face shattering upon impact. She hits the floor with a dull thud, and Tyson turns to open the door.

“See you next week, whore. And you’d better be here,” he said, ruthlessly leaving the shattered remains of the prostitute, broken and bloody on the floor of the Hanged Man’s room.

Tyson leaves the saloon, and pays his tab with the barman before exiting. Sitting at a table playing poker is Ed Fuller, another one of the elders at the Atoka Church of God and a notorious gambler and drinker. He also used to work for Tyson as a cattleman for Junior Parker before he got fired for trying to pick drunken fights while on cattle drives.

“Well hey there, Tyson. What are you doing in the Hanged Man?” Ed asked.

“I wanted a drink, Ed.”

“Don’t we all…listen, what are we going to do about this matchmaker? It’s just that Daisy’s sister is getting antsy…she is worried that there won’t be any men left to marry when the matchmaker is finished.”

“Don’t worry about that. I know who the matchmaker is, and I will be putting a stop to this business very soon.”

“Okay, just make sure that—“

“I said that I will take care of it!” Tyson shouts, his eyes beginning to pop once more.

“Okay, okay…calm down.”

“I must go home. Do not tell anyone that I know who the matchmaker is. I must go home to Emily and Elizabeth. Good evening to you,” he says, clearly in a rush to leave the bar.

He exits the building, and turns left to walk toward his home, just outside the limits of the community of Atoka. When he arrives, he enters his home, and sees his wife, Emily, sitting at the table. The woman looks haggard, with dark bags under her eyes. “I know who the matchmaker is,” he says.

Emily does not say a word, but instead sits in complete silence. The poor woman simply wants him to leave her alone for one evening.

If she can escape a beating, then it will have been a success.

Chapter 9: Dealing With Tyson

A week later, a large locomotive puffs to a stop at the main platform of the Coleman Station of the Gulf, Colorado, & Santa Fe Railway, white steam billowing behind the series of train cars. When it finally comes to a full and complete stop, men begin to unload the various cargo holds of the freight, while other men remove the sacks of mail from the mail car. The fourth car doors open, and the only two passengers on the train exit and walk lazily over to the postmaster’s booth. The man knocks on the door, and Sandra Ammor opens the door.

“Junior! Ruth! How have y’all been?” she hollers out.

“We’ve been fine,” Junior answers. “Just fine. Are Dandy and Dwight here? They were supposed to be meeting us.”

“We’re here, Junior,” Dwight says from the corner, standing to shake his hand.

“Great! Where’s Dandy at?”

“I’m not sure. He probably couldn’t get away from the hoosegow in time.”

“What? Dandy’s in jail?”

“Yeah, but not on that side of the bars. He’s chief deputy for the Sheriff these days.”

“That’s great!” Junior says, “I know that he wanted that for a long time.”

“Yeah, he has,” Dandy says from the doorway, smiling.

“Dandy! Where the hell did you come from!” Junior hollers, grabbing the younger man’s hand and wringing it.

“I couldn’t come without the missus,” Dandy responds, grinning from ear to ear. “Junior, this is my wife, Sarah Anne, and our baby,” he says, rubbing his wife’s stomach tenderly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sarah Anne,” Junior says, “and this is my lovely bride, Ruth,”

“Hello everyone!” she says, beaming, taking Sarah Anne’s hand, and turning to Pauline. “And you are?”

“I’m sorry! Junior…Ruth, this is Pauline, my new wife,” Dwight says, quickly introducing her.  Ruth and Pauline shake hands, the two youngest women there.

“Now, I hate to break up this cozy catch-up session, everyone,” Sandra cuts in, “but I have work to do. Shoo!”

When everyone is outside, Junior turns to Dwight and says “I see that your sister hasn’t changed a bit.”

“Not one jot,” Dwight responds, shaking his head.

“So, Dwight…I hate to ask, but before we go find Tyson, I simply have to know…what exactly happened to Big Dave…and Amanda?”

“Well,” Dwight says, rubbing his forehead. “Dave was murdered.”

“What?!”

“Yeah…his body was found with a note on it from Doc Dawson.”

“The cattle rustler?”

“The very same,” Dandy answers Junior. “To get at me.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah…after you left, I started working for Dave. He said that a rustler was stealing his cattle, so he asked me and the Garret boys to stop him.”

“Jefferson and Davis?”

“Yeah…well, they didn’t listen to me, and got shot. I was…indisposed.”

“Okay?”

“Well, Dawson went to Dave’s house and killed him, and left a note for me, and I had to kill him.”

“He didn’t just kill Dawson,” Dwight interjects. “He met him in the middle of the street and beat him to the quick draw!”

“Wow,” Ruth says.

“Don’t make it into something it wasn’t, now Dwight,” Dandy says. “All it takes is being the fastest once. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I’m the one lying dead in the dirt. I was just faster that one time, and it was the one time I needed to be.”

“What about Amanda?” Junior asks.

“Well, it was raining the day of Dave’s funeral, and a few days later, she took to a cold. Within a week, it had developed into fully fledged pneumonia. She died a month later.”

“I’m sorry,” Junior and Ruth say together.

“It’s okay, now,” Dwight says. “If I hadn’t lost Amanda, I wouldn’t be where I am now, and I wouldn’t have this beautiful woman,” he says, hugging Pauline with one arm. “I’m not saying that I love Pauline more or less than Amanda, but I am saying that God’s got a plan in everything, and that’s why I am so angry with Tyson.

”

“Yeah, Tyson…what’s he been doing?” Junior asks.

“Well, the pompous asshole formed a mob to run Pauline and I out of town!” Sarah Anne exclaims. “The little prick is so pissed that he can’t control everyone that he formed a mob, and that damned nigger whore tried to say that my husband was her man before I came around.”

“It was kind of funny when my beautiful wife went off on Sally,” Dandy says, smirking.

“What did you say?” Ruth asks.

“Well, I told her that I didn’t take her man, because she was nothing but a God damned whore that my husband fucked until he met me!” Sarah Anne exclaims, her vulgarity causing Ruth and Pauline to blush.  Sarah Anne surely was a spitfire.

“Well, I suppose we’d better go find Tyson,” Junior says.

“What are you going to do?” Dwight asks.

“I’m going to remind him of why he isn’t able to talk bad on anyone…because I know what he’s done. If he doesn’t promise to keep his mouth shut, let’s just say that Pastor Bill is going to find out why I was against Tyson’s election as an elder.”

Chapter 10: Happy Endings

It didn’t take Junior and the boys long to find Tyson. Ruth, Pauline, and Sarah Anne stayed behind at Dandy and Sarah Anne’s house (Junior’s old ranch house), because they would likely only inflame the situation more than it needed to be. Dandy, Junior, and Dwight entered into the Hanged Man Saloon, and sat at the bar, and ordered three whiskeys. While their backs were turned, Tyson entered the saloon, immediately causing a ruckus.

“Where is that whore!” he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Ahh, Tyson!” Junior says, turning around, his empty whiskey glass in his hand. “I was hoping that I would run into you!”

“Junior Parker!” Tyson yells drunkenly. “What the hell are you doing back in Atoka? I thought I told you to stay the hell away from here with your whore of a wife!”

“Oh you did? I was under the impression that you had run away to keep your wife from finding out why I fired you,” Junior says, pleasantly.

“Oh? And why was that again? Because as I recall, I quit!”

“Now, Tyson…don’t be foolish. Everybody in this room knows that nobody ever quits working for me…I was too good to my guys. Right, Dandy?”

“That’s right, Boss,” Dandy answered.

“Now, Dandy, I done told you that I ain’t your boss any longer.”

“I know. Old habits die hard,” he answered.

“So, Tyson…let’s think this over. We can make this as easy or as hard as you like. I’m already gone from these parts. Ruth and I have got a nice new homestead in Nebraska, we’re trying to have a baby, and we have no intention of coming back.”

“Yeah! Because I ran you out of here!”

“No. Because I wanted to go somewhere where I wasn’t widely known as the richest son-of-a-bitch in the area. Now, I am going to give you one last chance…either promise me that you will leave Dwight, Dandy, and their lovely wives alone, or I will wreck every vestige of power you have in Coleman County, Texas.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“I’ll simply tell everyone the truth. Who do you think they’ll believe? You? Or me?”

“Me you whoremonger!”

“Last warning, Tyson…call my wife a whore one more time, and I will end you.”

“Whatever, asshole! Your wife is a whore, his wife is a whore, and his wife is a whore!” Tyson yells, thoroughly deranged and pointing at Junior, Dandy, and Dwight in turn.

“Fine. Our wives are whores,” Junior says, the smile never leaving his lips. “And you are a hypocritical pig who parades about how holy he is because you are an elder at the church. Well guess what? I got you your job with the county, and the only reason that you are in a position of power with the church is because I allowed it. Right Preacher?” he asks a man who had been sitting in the corner the entire time. “You knew that I was against his appointment as an elder, didn’t you? Well here is why…I had to fire him as a way to try and save him…he has been beating his wife, screwing every prostitute in the county…and his daughter, Elizabeth too!”

The silence in the room was palpable as Tyson Abrams stared Junior in the face.  The seconds stretched into days as he sized Junior up, and then he finally lost his composure and lunged at Junior, screaming some kind of war cry, “euarrrrrrrrrghhhh!!!!” but when he got within arm’s reach of Junior, he was met full force by Junior’s right hand, dropping him to the floor, unconscious. The room around them was covered by an audible silence, until Junior himself broke it.

“Folks, these men,” he began, gesturing toward Dandy and Dwight, “these men just want what we all want. They want to live their lives peaceably and to raise their families.  Dwight was married for many years to Amanda, a woman from Coleman County like the rest of us. Dandy has lived here his whole life, and rid this county of Doc Dawson, the criminal. Do not let yourselves be taken in to believe something that goes agains what you know to be true. They aren’t whoremongers…well, not any more at least,” he said winking at Dandy, who was widely known as a playboy before Sarah Anne came along.  “These are good men. You know it, I know it, and God knows it. Don’t give yourselves over to madmen like Tyson Abrams. Give yourselves to God, who is the just judge. Who sees the heart, and separates the sheep from the goats.”

After the scene at the Hanged Man, Dandy had the distinct pleasure of arresting Tyson Abrams…and locking him up in the Atoka Lockup, just as he had wanted. Sarah Anne gave birth to a little boy, who they named after Dandy’s former employer and the former owner of their ranch. The little boy was named “Junior Parker Darby.”

Dandy went on to become sheriff of Coleman County, and winning no less than seventeen quick draws against outlaws while riding with the Rangers in that capacity. He retired undefeated at the age of fifty-six, and wrote his memoirs.

Dwight Butler and Pauline went back to Voss, where they were named Junior Darby’s godparents, and they helped Dandy and Sarah Anne to raise him up. Dwight’s daughter by Amanda, Emily, married a man who performed quick draw demonstrations for the rodeo, and they traveled all across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Oklahoma doing demonstrations. Dwight lived another fifteen years, when he died of a heart attack, and he was buried between Amanda and Pauline, his two wives.

Junior and Ruth returned to Nebraska, where they finally conceived a child together, three years after Tyson was arrested. They gave birth to a young girl, naming her after Junior’s mother, Annabelle. She went on to marry a Mr. Trevor Thomson in Nebraska, and he was elected to the state legislature.

Sally eventually recovered from her injuries, but within six months, she was gone from Coleman, never to be seen again.

Tyson was forced to resign from his post as jail-master in the Atoka Lockup and elder at the Atoka Church of God. He then left Coleman County for good. His wife, Emily, finally left, and his daughter, Elizabeth made a full recovery from the emotional trauma that Tyson caused with his abuse of her.

Emily owned a saloon in Montana, and died there twenty five years later. Tyson, on the other hand, got his just desserts outside of a brothel in Dodge City, Kansas, when he was caught beating one of the women there. The madam who owned the establishment shot him between the eyes with a Colt .45, just under a year after his arrest.

No one ever found out who the matchmaker was. She continued working as Postmaster for Coleman county, and never made a match again, feeling that all the headache was more than it was worth.

In short, they all lived the lives they so craved and deserved.