right on that jaw of yours!'
He flushed a bright red from his throat to his white, tufted hair, but
he accepted a kiss and hugged her tightly in return.
'We just kept doing the paper, Miss. Tess. Even when they tried to tell
us that you weren't coming back, we just kept the Sun going out on
schedule.
Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, we had a W~tltshire Sun out on the
street!'
'And I'm so grateful and so proud of both of you I' Tess assured him.
Edward cleared his throat.
'Well, I didn't exactly have the news of the nation going out,' he
admitted.
'Ah, hell, I didn't really have the balls to print too much. Von Heusen
was breathing down my neck, and I' -- 'You kept it going,' Tess said.
'And I'm grateful.' She gloves and headed for her desk.
'Am I in time a story for the Tuesday edition?'
'Yes, yes, Miss. Stuart! I'll clean out the presses, I'll' -- 'I've just
got one story,' Tess assured him.
'But it's an one. I want it on the front page.' smiled at Edward and
inserted paper into the new typewriter she had insisted they buy. She
closed her pausing for a moment, smelling the ink on Harry's Then she
smiled and started to type. She described the small wagon train, then
she described the attack. She described the attackers, who had looked
like white men painted up to look like Comanche. She wrote about being
saved by the cavalry, then she wrote about Chief Running River and how
he had sworn his people had not had anything to do with the attack. Then
she wrote that she knew she was an eyewitness. and a survivor. She ended
the piece with a bold accusation.
'Certain tyrants in this town will stoop to any means to bring about
their chosen results. This town has been mercilessly se'tzed upon. We've
seen our friends and neighbors disappear. Some say it was the war, but
the war has ended, and all good men are trying to repair broken fences
and lend a helping hand. In this town, however, we have been met by
evil. Yes, my friends, evil lives in man. The evil that killed a man
like Joe Stuart. Joe Stuart's death must not be in vain. We must band
together and fight the evil. It does not come from the war. It comes
from a man, and no matter how he threatens, we can beat him--if we stand
together.' She left it at that. She hesitated for a moment, searching
for better words, then shrugged. She had said what she wanted to say.
She pulled the sheet of paper from the machine and handed it to Edward.
'Read this over for me, will you, Ed?'
His eyes were already racing over the piece. He was a swift.
proofreader, and he quickly came to her final paragraph.
His fingers trembled, and the paper wavered within them. 'Tess' -- 'I
want it out tomorrow,' she said.
'Tess, he'll come after you lock, stock and barrel' -- 'He already left
me for dead once,' she said.
'But, Tess' -- 'Print it, please. And now tell me--what happened at the
saloon the other night?'
Edward stared, trying to change his train of thought quickly as she was
