A few moment later, Lancer produced the bottle of Irish whiskey and they changed the subject. Soon, they were laughing and talking about old times and recounting humorous stories about various incidents that had taken place in their lives. After a while, Johnny indicated that he was going for a swim, and invited Jesse to do the same. "Not me, not while this she-devil is around." Logan said hooking his thumb toward Charley."What's the matter, Jesse, you ain't bashful are ya?" Johnny asked grinning almost challengingly.
"If you knew about the stunt yer sister pulled here last May you'd be a mite wary bout swimming anywhere with her around, especially after both of us have pulled pranks on her only a little while ago." Logan said chuckling as he remembered the look on the cowboys' faces as they'd humbly approached Charley, all sunburned and with their hats covering their unmentionables.
Charlene burst out laughing and Logan recounted the story to Johnny. Lancer laughed until the tears were coming out of his eyes. "So you can see why I ain't going fer a swim with her around." Logan finished.
Charlene, having become somewhat lightheaded and less inhibited from the whiskey said, "It's all right boys, ya'll are safe tonight. Fact is, I think I'll go fer a swim myself. I cain't very well steal yer clothes if I'm swimmin' too, can I?
Charley quickly disrobed and Johnny followed suit. Jesse, somewhat reluctantly stripped down to his long-johns. His eyes kept returning to Charlene, but when she looked up at him, he quickly averted his gaze. Charlene laughed. "What's the matter, cowboy? I bet you weren't so shy about lookin' at me when you were hidin' behind them branches earlier."
Logan grinned sheepishly and simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Come on boy, skin them long-johns off. Ya got a good look at ME a while ago, now its my turn!" She said, grinning from ear to ear mischievously. Jesse, still held back out of embarrassment.
"Aw, come on Jesse, don't be bashful, I saw ya naked when you were thirteen. I'm sure you haven't changed all that much since then."
Jesse finally removed his undergarments then blushed, as he notice Charlene covering her mouth with her hand and giggling.
"What's the matter now?" He growled, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Charlie, still giggling, pointed at his groin and said, "I guess I was wrong. You HAVE changed a lot since then!"
Jesse then self-consciously covered his unmentionables with his hands as Charley broke out into side-splitting laughter.
"Hell, I thought we were goin' swimming." Logan said gruffly, trying desperately to mask his discomfort, especially as he unsuccessfully attempted to mentally contain and physically cover the rapid swelling at his loins. The sight of Jesse vainly attempting to mask his arousal with his hands brought about a fresh burst of laughter from Charley.
Johnny was barely able to contain his own laughter, but sensing Jesse's discomfort, felt for him and decided to bring his sister down a notch or two. "Hold on Jesse, I think there's somethin' ya ought ta know bout little miss Charlene here. Could ya see what I did from where you were watching earlier?" Lancer asked.
"No, not really." Logan replied, still trying to hide the evidence of his arousal.
"Well ya see, I caught this here little tarantula..." Lancer then, despite Charlene's vehement protest, explained the trick he had pulled on Charlene with the tarantula, and how she'd began reacting, moaning and repeating Jesse's name as the tarantula had made its way up on to her breast.
"Johnny, shut up, you big horse turd!" she said, her face flushing a deep red.
"See Jesse, way I figure it, ole Charley here was a-lyin' there thinkin' lewd thoughts about you, and dozed off ta sleep. She was figurin' that, that there tarantula was your hand just a feelin 'er up purty as ya please."
"Johnneeeey, please, shut UP!"
Lancer ignored her protests and continued, "Now our naughty minded little Charley here was a really enjoyin' this ya see. Remember Charley, `AAAAHHH, OOOOOUUUHH, Jesse, don't stop. YEEESS, Jesssseeee,' wasn't that how you did it?" Johnny teased, raising his voice an octave in imitation of her own.
"I did NOT! I told you to SHUT UP you stupid jackass!" Charlene squealed indignantly as she began pulling Johnny's hair and then trying in vain to cover his mouth with her hand.
"Anyhow when I went and started ticklin' her feet an woke her up, she got all disappointed an ticked off when she saw that it wasn't really your hand feelin' 'er up. Then ta top that off, she took out her frustrations on her poor brother, whom she hadn't seen fer years! I'll tell you, I was plumb ashamed of my little sister. Ta think, after all the trouble I went to tryin' ta bring her up right! Anyhow, I reckon it's safe ta say that she ain't got no right ta be laughin' at ya like that, Jesse."
After hearing Lancer's lurid description of Charley's dream, Logan was more embarrassed than ever. Johnny meanwhile, had retreated backwards under a barrage of kicks and punches thrown by Charlene until he was perilously close to the ledge. Charlene then pushed him with all of her strength, toppling him over the edge and into the deeper end of the pool. She then turned back to Jesse and once again, started giggling.
Jesse finally abandoned all pretense of trying to contain or hide the reason for his embarrassment and said, "Alright girl, that's it. You've had your fun, now its my turn!" He then, moving with a suddenness and speed which astonished her, seized her and picked her up over his head. She was screaming halfway in fear and halfway in delight, "No Jesse, don't! Put me down!"
"Oh, I'll put you down alright!" He said as he launched her high into the air above the pool of water some ten feet below. Jesse then dived in after her.
They chased around, dunking each other and generally behaving like children. Soon, as it had been when they were younger, a competition began to develop between Jesse and Johnny as to who could dive from the highest point. At the back end of the spring, the rock was sheer and rose some fifty feet above the surface as the stream cascaded down to the pool itself. However, there were numerous hand and footholds by which to climb up, as well as numerous places to launch oneself from for a dive. Charlene had started the activity by climbing up around ten feet and then diving in. Soon Jesse and Johnny were competing, each advancing higher and higher with every dive.
Charlene watched the two men, comparing their builds as they scrambled up and positioned themselves for the next dive. She noted that her brother had turned out to be a strikingly handsome man. He was about two inches taller than Jesse but she guessed, not much heavier. Both men had little if any noticeable fat on their frames. Both were well muscled and lithe, and agile as a cat. Neither had hardly any hair on their chest, Johnny having more, but what he had was hardly noticeable due to its light coloration. Jesse seemed to be a bit thicker through the chest, and his muscles stood out with greater definition, especially in the upper arms where they literally bulged out like knots when he flexed. However she could tell that her brother too, was a powerful man.
Both men had exceptionally handsome faces that any woman could easily fall for. She decided Logan was slightly more handsome, yet, she knew that might be because she had a tremendous crush on him that had of late, been growing worse by leaps and bounds. Though they were the same age, Johnny's face had a younger, somewhat more devil-may-care, happy-go-lucky, boyish quality about it. Jesse's, on the other hand, although youthful, had a slightly more mature appearance. Johnny's face always had the appearance of adolescent mischief about it where Jesse, appeared more serious and subdued, almost harsh, at least when neither of them were laughing and cutting up as they were at the moment. Yet when Jesse smiled, the harshness disappeared and his blue eyes sparkled with merriment which, when combined with a couple of irresistible dimples on his cheeks, made him the handsomest man she'd ever seen. She had to admit though, were Johnny not her brother, and had she just met both men, she would have been extremely hard pressed to be able to choose between them on the basis of their appearance alone. Right now though, they were acting like a pair of ten-year-old boys, and having a ball doing so.
She watched as her brother was climbing up the rocks attempting to top Logan's last dive, and Logan clambered up after him, apparently trying to prevent him from doing so. Johnny was laughing and kicking at Jesse who was attempting to grab Johnny's ankle and hold him back. Charlene realized that she hadn't had so much fun in years. The rivalry between the two men (or boys she thought) had resumed itself as though they had only been separated for maybe a week. Then, it was as if a dark cloud had begun to blot out all of her sunny thoughts. Suddenly, a terrifying sense of dread and despair settled over her, filling her with feelings of hopelessness and despair.
She realized that their rivalry might well soon settle itself forever in gunplay. Under different circumstances, she knew that such would never happen. But she also felt that fate sometimes played cruel games with the lives of those she cared for. She had no idea how prophetic her feelings might later turn out to be but what happened next, seemed to be a dire confirmation of her fears. As Jesse finally succeeded in grasping Johnny's ankle, he yanked back hard and sent him plummeting backwards down toward the pool below. However, as he was falling, Johnny managed to grab Jesse's shoulders and pull him off as well. Both went under--and seemed to remain an inordinate length of time. She shuddered inwardly. Was this a hint of what was to come? Were they ultimately destined to bring each other down to destruction? She suddenly had a terrifying premonition of the two of them facing each other in the main street of Olsen's Falls, hands poised in readiness over their holstered pistols. Both drew and fired at the same instant, and both men collapsed to the ground in a heap, mortally wounded.
She was brought back to reality when finally, both their heads broke the surface, Johnny coughing and sputtering as Jesse was slapping him on the back. It seemed that Johnny had hit his head on the bottom and had actually been knocked unconscious for a short spell. Logan had retrieved him and brought him up.
"Hell boys an' girls, I reckon I've had enough fer the night. I'm gonna go swallow some more whiskey and get me some shut-eye afore I bust my head permanent." Johnny said, in between gasps.
The truth was though, that Johnny had staged the whole incident in order to give himself an excuse to leave his sister and Jesse alone for a while. Of all the men he had ever met, he could think of none that he'd be happier to see win his sister's hand. Whatever the future might hold one way or another, Johnny had no doubts that Jesse Logan was a real man, staunch, courageous an loyal to a fault, Charlene would likely never find any better.
Jesse and Charley remained in the pool about a half hour longer, laughing, jostling and chasing one another about when Jesse finally said that he had better get some sleep. It was already in the wee hours of the morning, and he planned to attend Dan Bolton's funeral at the BAR-O ranch later that day.
As they climbed out of the pool to the top of the rim, they noticed that a single bed-roll and a couple of blankets had been laid out neatly upon the stone, along with both Jesse's and Charlene's holsters and pistols. "Looks like somebody's trying ta give us a hint, don't it." Charlene said grinning mischievously.
She turned and stared at Logan ardently, her big, blue eyes beckoning as she glanced up at him fervently.
Charlene's breath seemed to be coming in short rapid bursts. They came together passionately as Jesse kissed Charlene long and deep, hugging her body fiercely up against his own. Charlene felt a shudder rippling through her body as his powerful arms engulfed her. To Jesse, the feel of her soft yet firm figure against his own sent a thrill through him beyond anything he had ever anticipated. It was as though a dam, restraining an immense amount of deep, intensely powerful emotional longings and desires in both of them, was about to become overwhelmed and burst open with a fury that would drown them both. They came apart and Jesse, fighting against the most powerful temptation he'd ever faced said almost breathlessly, "No, not yet. When this is all over, I may ask you to marry me. Maybe then, we can finish this."
"Charlene, said, "I hope I can wait, Jesse. If you do ask me though, I'm warnin' ya, I'm liable ta say yes, an you'll be stuck with me for good!"
"Charley, a man could not hope for more in life than that. I love you, I know that now, and I've felt it for a long time. If it's not you, there will be no one else for me, ever." He said sincerely.
"Jesse, promise me you won't go off and get yourself killed. Please, just promise me that." she begged as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
Jesse shook his head sadly as he lightly brushed the tears from her face. "It's a promise I can't make, and you know it. But I do promise that I'll do the best I can, Charley. That's all I can do." he said somberly. He smiled reassuringly, kissed her on the forehead and said, "Don't worry Charley. Somehow, it'll work out. We've just gotta have faith and patience. The good Lord'll take care of the rest. Now give me a smile." She did so, and with that, the two lovers bed down for the night and fell asleep peacefully in one another's arms.
Sunrise found Charlene and Jesse in the same position, and Johnny Lancer busying himself about camp attempting to prepare breakfast for all three. He had managed to catch a string of bass and catfish well before seven o'clock that morning, and was now cleaning and preparing them for the frying pan. Charlene and Jesse awoke as the smells of coffee boiling and fish frying, wafted up over the rim and into their nostrils. Jesse immediately started to get up, in order to go down and give Johnny a hand. Charlene reached up and pulled him back down. "Johnny's doin' fine honey, just lay here with me for a while." She said wistfully.
Logan smiled and slid back down beside her. "I reckon breakfast can wait a bit longer." He said, as he kissed her hungrily upon the lips.
Down below, in the trees, Johnny had finished cooking breakfast and was growing somewhat impatient. In a mischievous voice that he knew would be loud enough to carry up to Jesse and Charlene, he addressed his horse saying, "Well Cleopatra, here I go an fix 'em a nice breakfast, an' they ain't even got the decency ta come down and eat it! Well Cleo, ya reckon somethin's wrong? Yeah, that's what I think to. They must be sick er somthin'. I guess I'd better climb up there and have a REAL GOOD LOOK!"
"You think he means it?" Jesse asked.
"Hell, I know he does." Charlene said, then burst out giggling devilishly as Logan blushed.
"You just keep yer ass down there, Johnny. We're coming down." Logan yelled stridently. Then he and Charlene got up and hurriedly began getting dressed.
As the two lovers walked into the campsite below, Logan asked, "How's your head, Johnny? Did ya get any sleep?"
"Sleep, I don't know how I was supposed ta sleep what with the earthquake and all."
"Earthquake." Logan said somewhat in disbelief.
"Hell yeah. Why I no sooner drifted off ta sleep when I was woke up by the sound of a rockslide and the ground a tremblin' all around me. I cain't fer the life a me figure how come you two not ta notice. Why when I looked up, them rocks ya'll were sleepin' on was just a shakin' an a bouncin' around somthin' fierce! I expected ta see the both of ya come tumblin' off a there at any moment!"
"Charlene broke out into laughter and Jesse's face turned a deep red as the realization of what Johnny was implying finally dawned upon him. "Nothin' like that happened, Johnny, so why don't you shut up and let's eat breakfast." Logan said gruffly.
They finished the breakfast and Jesse said, "I guess I'd better head for the BAR-O. If Moose ain't arrived yet, I'll back track toward town and catch him on his way out. I got a funeral to attend today."
"I'm going with ya." Charlene stated matter of factly.
"My goodness sis, I'd a thought you'd be way too sore ta be sittin' a saddle fer at least a week after last night, what with all them naughty games ya were playin' with Jesse here. Why I reckon you done corrupted the poor boy. I'm downright ashamed of ya both. What would mama think?" Johnny said, winking devilishly.
"Maybe you just oughta keep yer thoughts ta yerself, Brubba, 'specially since ya don't know what yer talkin' about anyway!" Charlene said.
"Now don't go gettin' all hot at me, Sis. I'm just trying ta help. I knew I shouldn't have left home when I did. I shoulda stayed around ta guide ya, an give ya the benefit of my fine upstandin' moral character. I didn't, and look how far you sank! Breaks my heart, seein' the depths a depravity that you've fallen into." Johnny said sanctimoniously.
"Fine moral character my ass! I shoulda brought my shovel 'cause its sure getting deep around here. If that ain't the pot calling the kettle black then shit don't stink!" Logan said caustically.
"No kiddin', Johnny. I just got through tellin' ya that nothin' happened, an' that's the truth whether you believe it or not!" Charley exclaimed, near exasperation.
"Don't get touchy, Jesse, Sis, I'm just joshin'. Fact is, I think I'll ride along with ya'll a'ways. I know I won't be welcome at the funeral, what with the Mason brothers bein' there, but I figure I can ride along with ya most of the way anyhow. If the Esperanza gang is out an' about like you said, you might need an extra gun."
"Well, hell, let's get going then!" Jesse said enthusiastically. At that, the three saddled up their horses and headed out toward the BAR-O ranch house.
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