I don’t own anything, except of course Elizabeth’s family and Charlie McDonald.

Mr. Butterfield kept his promises and more. After the train left with Ben Wade on it, Mr. Butterfield arranged for a casket and Pa to be sent home. Paid for it himself, didn’t even take it out of the 1000. He took me back to our ranch. Well, I recon he did, I was a bit dazed the entire time.

All I really remember about when we got home was Ma hugging me for almost the entire day and when she wasn’t, she was arranging for Pa’s funeral or hugging Mark. She wanted to bury him under the tree next to the barn. In fact, she didn’t even scold me for sneaking out of the house.

It wasn’t until the next day that Mark gave me the reply from Beth to come visit her. For a while there I’d forgotten all about her and Charlie. I figured I’d go that day because her family needs to know about Pa anyways, especially if they are to come to the funeral. Plus, I need to see Beth, just to make it okay, take my mind off of things for a while.

Riding up to her house, I could hear laughter coming from inside. How I wish I could laugh like that right now. After tying my horse up to the hitching post, walked up to the front door and knocked. I could hear the laughter stop, then a chair scraping back against the wooden floor and the light footsteps of a girl coming to answer my knock. When Beth’s face appeared in the doorway, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

“Hello, Beth,” I said, feeling better just by looking at her.

“Will!” she shrieked, throwing her arms around my neck. “I was so worried about you. When Mark came and told us you were gone, that you’d followed your Pa and Ben Wade…I was afraid that you weren’t coming back.”

I didn’t say anything. I could see her family in the room behind her, and I was afraid that if I said anything I would not be able to hold back the flood of tears that were threatening to escape from behind my eyelids. She pulled back to look at me.

“Is everything alright?” I shook my head ‘no’, but my attempts to keep from crying were futile as a tear escaped my eye and trailed down my cheek. She pushed me onto the porch before turning back to talk to her family.

“I’ll be right back, we’re going to go talk in the barn.” She grabbed her coat and then backed out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. We stood there for a minute as she pulled on her coat and the tears began streaming quietly down my face. I hadn’t really been able to mourn for Pa, what with Mr. Butterfield looking on the entire trip back. Beth grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the barn, then up into the hayloft.

“What’s happened?” she asked simply, pulling out a handkerchief for me to use. I hated crying in front of her, but I couldn’t stop the tears from coming. I began telling her the entire trip from saving all of their lives to sitting holed up in the hotel and then finally about watching Pa get shot and killed by Ben Wade’s gang. Of course I told her about Wade killing his entire gang because of Pa’s death, but it was a minor victory compared to losing my father. Once in the barn, telling my story, I let the tears flow. She’s my best friend; of course she would understand and not think any less of me because of it.

“Beth, I figured I could come talk to you because you know what I’m going through, what with Richard and all,” I said, watching her flinch at the mention of her twin’s name. “I mean, you saw, you watched someone you love die right before your eyes too. I supposed you to understand. I’m sorry, I know it’s hard to talk about and I shouldn’t have…”

“Will,” she interrupted, taking my hands in hers. “I’m fine, you needn’t apologize about bringing up Richard; I’m not going to break. But watching my brother slowly fade into nothing and seeing your Pa brutally murdered are…completely different. I don’t think I could stand here and say I know exactly how you feel, because I really don’t. But, Will, I’m glad you thought about it enough to trust me.”

“Shit, I shouldn’t have come. Now you probably are going to go out and have a good laugh about me with all your friends. I should go,” I said, quickly standing up and making my way toward the ladder.

“No, Will, I would never. Plus, you and John are basically my only friends anyway,” she said in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood by mocking her lack of social companions. “I meant I was glad you trust me enough to let me see you like this. I don’t think any less of you because of it. In fact, I probably would have thought less of you had you shown no remorse over losing your Pa. I know how much you hated him for never doing anything to stand up for himself or the rest of your family. Anyway, I don’t know how I would be able to handle this if it was my Pa, especially since Richard. Is there anything else on your mind you wanted to talk about?”

I wanted to tell her everything. Every thought or feeling I’d had since first meeting her, but instead I just shook my head and said, “No, nothing.”

“Oh, that reminds me, about Charlie McDonald, I’m not interested in him,” she said, giggling, but I couldn’t see what was so funny about it. “Rachel is! She just recruited me to find information about him and possibly drop hints that he should woo her. I don’t like doing it, but she’s my sister and these bad errands she makes me do always lead to us becoming closer and it also prevents her from telling Ma everything I do. So, don’t worry about Charlie McDonald. But, if Charlie isn’t good enough for me, who, might I ask, would be?” There was this mischievous twinkle in her eyes and I knew she was trying to pry the name of a secret admirer out of me, but I wasn’t going to budge. I just smiled at her.

“Anyone and everyone is better than Charlie McDonald, but you will not get any specific names out of me, missy,” I said, laughing. At least now she made the tears stop. “Thank you, Beth.”

We sat there talking for maybe another hour before I had to head home for dinner. I don’t want to leave Ma for any long periods of time right now, she needs me to be strong for her. I guess that’s why I was so glad to have Beth to be weak in front of. She didn’t need me to be steady, strong and constant like Ma and Mark did.

Wow, come to think of it, looking back on all our years of friendship, she was always there when I needed her. I remember the first day met. It was two days after we’d made it to the ranch and we hadn’t met anyone yet. I was angry that we’d had to move, my whole life was back in Massachusetts but I knew Mark needed the Arizona climate to help his tuberculosis. I'd gone out riding with Pa to go meet the neighbors and get some supplies in Bisbee.

As we came up to their house I could see a boy and a girl, about five years old playing in between the house and the barn. The girl saw us first and ran over to the barn.

“Pa, new people coming!” she shouted before pulling the boy over to the front porch and hiding behind a post. A man, whom I assumed to be her Pa came out of the barn and walked up to our horses with a shotgun in one hand.

“Hey there, who’re you?” he sounded a bit suspicious.

“Hello,” Pa replied. “We’re you’re new neighbors just across that hill there; came to say ‘hello’ and meet you. The name’s Dan Evans, this here’s my oldest, Will. My wife, Alice and my other boy, Mark, are back at the ranch settling in.” At this point a lady with two other girls came out of the house and a boy, I guessed to be a little older than me came out of the barn.

“Well, welcome. Sorry about the hostility, one never can be too cautious out here. The name’s Henry Johnson. That’s my wife, Jane, with our daughters Rachel and Susan. The boy over by the barn is my son, John, and…” he trailed off looking around the yard, obviously for the two who were here when we first rode up. “Now where in the name of heaven could they be?” He seemed to be talking more to himself than anyone else.

“The twins, Richard and Elizabeth are around here somewhere…” he trailed off. Then suddenly, the twins appeared next to their Pa, as if by magic.

“Pa, you know I don’t want to be called Elizabeth,” the little girl said, tugging on his pants leg.

“Well, then, can I call you Beth?” I asked, a sudden confidence coming over me.

“Everyone calls me Elizabeth anyway, but I guess you could call me Beth,” she replied, screwing up her face as if thinking really hard about it.

“My favorite aunt is Beth, that’s why I thought of it,” I said, smiling at her. I’d only known the girl two minutes and already I could tell we’d be great friends.

“We should get going, Will,” Pa told me, then he turning back to the family. “But Alice will be grateful to hear of four females living so nearby. I know being the only girl gets to her sometimes.”

“I’d love to have tea or coffee with her,” Mrs. Johnson told us, walking toward our horses. “Tell your wife I’ll be by later to meet her, and I’ll bring a cake too.”

“But, Ma, I wanted some of that cake,” Beth whined, running over to her ma.

“Stop complaining and be nice to our guests.”

“I’m sure Alice would love to see your children too, Mrs. Johnson. Plus, Elizabeth can come, play with Will and get her own slice of cake. They seem to be about the same age,” Pa said, smiling down at Beth.

“Alright, sounds wonderful,” said Beth before turning toward the house. “Come on, Richard, let’s go play.”

“Elizabeth, what do you say to our guests?” her Ma scolded.

“It was lovely to meet you, Mr. Evans, Will,” she said, curtseying to us, then running behind the barn with Richard trailing after.

That afternoon they came over and her, Richard and I were inseparable ever since. That’s how Beth both got her name and became the best friend I could always talk to. She knows what its like to have a brother with tuberculosis, how they always seem to get the attention. I may have missed Massachusetts for the first few months, but Arizona brought me something Massachusetts never had, someone I could spill my deepest secrets to and who wouldn’t judge me because of it.

Review, please! Comments, questions, criticism, anything is gratefully accepted…