She laughed, loved on him for a minute and said, petting him briefly, “Go now my husband. I need some time to recover before I begin my ride to Phoenix. We only made it to Welton so far.” She laughed as did he as she poked him on the nose joyfully and they separated for the moment.
Manny went to the saloon. He found his mother and father there, his godfather and Carmella there, a man he had never met named Manuel Esquerra and his lady, Jonas and his lady, the preacher who had consumed more beer than he probably should have and a lot of others including Janie's parents and siblings. They all shook his hand, clapped him on the back repeatedly, told him what a lucky young man he was and refrained from any comments about the time he and Janie had been missing.
Ross beamed with pride as he cl
