It had all started a little before nine when Nick and Heath had dropped her and Audra off at the church to teach a Saturday morning Bible class. Audra was about as nervous as a greenbroke colt being ridden away from the barn for the very first time. Victoria had calmly reassured her as they prepared for the soon arriving pupils. However, the building that the local parishioners often sought as a refuge from the world's sorrows, was also being used as a refuge by a notorious gang of outlaws. Ann Morton and her three sons were wanted for many acts of murder and robbery throughout the region. Led by their matriarch, this ruthless family had time and time again, gunned down their victims without provocation and without giving it a second thought.

Victoria had just entered the parsonage in search of hymnals, when she heard the click of a revolver behind her. She instinctively turned at the sudden sound and stood face to face with Annie Morton and the barrel of her gun. It had taken a few moments for Victoria to register who it was that she was dealing with, but then the pieces all started to fall into place and the picture she was left with was not a pretty one. The outlaws were seeking medical help for their youngest member, who had been wounded in a holdup the previous day in Settlers Gap.

Anne Morton broke the silence with her deep drawl. She demanded that Victoria depart immediately with her oldest son, Troy, to fetch the town doctor. Audra would be kept as collateral to insure a hasty and lone return. To complicate things even further, the children were due to arrive shortly. Nick and Heath had volunteered their morning to act as transport drivers for the occasion. Victoria had no choice but to comply. As the course of the day took its turn, it became obvious to Victoria that when the Mortons left the church, they wouldn't be leaving any witnesses behind. Victoria had done everything asked of her and then some. She had patched up Lon, the wounded young outlaw, herself, when it was discovered that no doctor from town was available. The middle son, Wes, had been making eyes at Audra all afternoon, and that had riled Annie up some.

The day had waned on, and when Jarrod had shown up at the church and killed the oldest outlaw boy, Troy, in a gunfight, Anne Morton was bent on revenge. Audra had hustled the children into the basement of the church when the gunshots rang from outside, and now there was a confrontation triangle between Annie, Wes and Victoria. Jarrod was lying on the floor of the church, out stone cold from the fistfight he had just had with Wes. Annie had ordered Wes to bring Audra up to the main room of the chapel and Wes was pleading with her to just let it go. As the two argued, the whole scenario become obvious to Victoria. She saw the control that had been displayed throughout the day between Anne Morton and her three sons. She wanted them to be dependent on her and her alone for any kind of relationships. When Wes had shown an interest in Audra, Annie was determined to permanently erase that thought from his longing mind.

Now Victoria boldly entered the dispute, spelling out any motive this woman would have for wanting to kill her daughter - JEALOUSY! To Victoria's surprise, a flame seemed to flicker from within Wes and all of a sudden the lights went on. That's it! She's telling it straight.

"Ma please - lets just get Lon and get out of here - there's no reason for any more killing". The boy pleaded with his ma on Audra's behalf, but she would not waiver.

As Anne turned on her heel to go get Audra herself, Victoria picked up a fallen pistol and aimed it at the outlaw woman.

"I'm warning you", she blurted out, "you stay away from that girl!"

Anne turned around to face Victoria as her hand went down for the gun she wore at her side. A shot echoed within the walls of the building as Victoria squeezed her trigger finger and shot the outlaw dead on. The woman gave Victoria a look of contempt as she clutched her gut and slowly sank to the floor of the church.

Victoria just stood there, not knowing what to expect next. Would Wes want to retaliate? Would Jarrod regain consciousness, only to engage in another battle? Maybe the grief at just losing his mother and brother would render Wes passive. And what about her own feelings? She felt as though emotionally she had been through the wringer, and now to top it off, she had been forced to take a life. As justifiable as it was, Victoria dreaded feeling the cold steel of the trigger giving way to her finger. At any rate, she at least still had the gun in her hands.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Wes stood to his feet. The red haired man looked back and forth from his dead mother and a dazed Victoria with a haunted, confused look in his eyes. Unarmed, he gave a little whimper and slowly started to back off towards the door. Victoria raised the barrel of the gun and pointed it towards the departing man, but hesitated as different angles presented themselves in her thought process. Here was a man who was wanted by the law, dead or alive for murder and robbery, but she had come to understand his story in a more complete way. He was a man who, as a little boy, had been taught to take for himself anything that presented itself available, and that the value of others had no meaning. Yet he was also a man who had just been instrumental in saving the life of her one and only daughter. He had gone against his own, to take her side. He had shown a spark of decency and compassion by not accomplicing his mother's orders against Audra. Now he was on his way to escape, not even showing the least bit of intimidation with Victoria's gun leveled straight at his chest. A quick decision needed to be made if Victoria was going to stop him. Their eyes met, and she saw a hollow, scared, weariness etched in his face. No! She wouldn't do it. She relaxed so that the barrel was pointing towards the floor in her dangling arm. The man made his move to exit the building. Within seconds she heard the pounding hoofbeats of a horse thundering off down the road.

A low groan brought her back to reality as Jarrod started to regain consciousness. His eyes still closed, he reached his hand up and gingerly touched his aching head. Victoria rushed to where he lay and knelt beside him.

"Jarrod?"

"Oh, my head! What happened?" Jarrod opened his eyes and eased himself into a sitting position with Victoria's help. He focused in on his surroundings and before his mother gave an explaination, he recalled the preceeding events. Victoria was examining the goose egg on the back of her oldest sons head.

"You have a nasty bump here, why don't you lay back down for a couple of minutes", soothed his mother.

"Would you please explain exactly what has happened here?" Jarrod replied, ignoring her attemps to keep him still.

All he knew was when he rode up to the church, one man had laid in wait to ambush him with gunfire. After walking away from that, and entering the building, another man had pounced on him from nowhere. Now that man was nowhere to be found, and a woman's corpse lay on the opposite side of the building. Victoria was in the processes of giving him a brief account when she stopped short.

"Oh my! I almost forgot. One of them is still up in the choir loft; and Audra and the children are still downstairs!"

"One of them is still here in this building!?" Jarrod exclaimed as his eyes darted around for the nearest gun. He focused on the gun Victoria had used, laying on the floor next to where she knelt. Taking it in his hand, he checked the chamber for bullets. Using the ammo in his own gun belt, he reloaded and with Victorias aid, stood to his feet. He looked up towards the choirloft and started to head in that direction. Victoria called out after him.

"As far as I know, he's unarmed, and he's weak from his injury, but please be careful, Jarrod!"

Jarrod nodded, with his gaze fixed on the entrance of the stairway leading up to the choir loft. Jarrod cautiously climbed the stairs, gun in hand. There in front of him, in a bed of blankets, lay a frightened boy, no more than sixteen years of age.

"Is my mother dead?", he stammered.

Jarrod nodded, still aiming the gun in the boy's direction. Tears welled up in the lad's eyes as he turned his head away from Jarrod. Jarrod then made a request.

"Very slowly I want you to put your hands out here where I can see them".

The nonresisting, young man was compliant with Jarrod's orders. Next, Jarrod pulled away the blankets to check for a concealed gun, and finding none, covered the boy back up.

"What's going to happen to me?" the boy asked, his voice breaking.

"I'm going to hold you for the Sheriff"

"Am I the only one left?"

"One of your brothers is dead, and the other one escaped, but I imagine there will be a posse out searching for him before too long". The boy fell silent as Jarrod's words sunk in.

Meanwhile, after finding a couple of blankets in the parsonage to cover the two corpses, Victoria descended into the basement of the church to give a report to Audra and the children. Audra had kept the children busy with Bible verse reciting and singing to keep their minds off the happenings upstairs. When Victoria entered the dimly lit cellar, Audra immediately ran over and embraced her.

"Oh Mother, I'm so gald you're safe! Is it okay to bring the children back up?"

"No Audra; everything is under control, but I feel that it would be best to have them wait down here until Nick and Heath are here with the carriage - I'll fill you in on the details later, dear. There is alot to talk about, but now is not the time. I'm going back upstairs to wait for the boys and somebody is going to need to ride into town to notify the Sheriff."

Nick and Heath arrived shortly thereafter, and the children were escorted up the stairs and out the backdoor of the church. It was decided that Audra and Victoria would transport the children back to their homes while Nick rode into town to fetch Sheriff Madden. Heath and Jarrod stayed at the church with their prisoner.

Within the hour, the Sheriff and Nick had returned to the parish and readied the young outlaw boy for the trip back into town. He would be transported in the buckboard that he had arrived in, and taken to the town jail where he could recuperate from his bullet wound and then await trial. There was also the matter of turning Anne and Troy Morton over to the district Marshall. Anne Morton had carried a $5,000 dollar reward for her capture dead or alive, which would be turned over to Victoria.

Jarrod headed for home while Nick and Heath escorted Sheriff Madden back into town. The Sheriff would soon be recruiting volunteers to ride out after the one remaining brother. Deciding that they needed some time with the family, Nick and Heath headed back towards the ranch.

That evening the family sat together in the living room discussing all that had happened that day. Victoria had mixed feelings on whether or not she had done the right thing in letting Wes walk out of the church. She was always in favor of upholding the law, but yet she owed this man a lot. Nick on the other hand, argued the fact that he was a hardened criminal and should have been delt with as such. Audra, even though she had had her bowels in an uproar earlier, was leaning more towards her mother's stand. Heath remained noncommittal on the issue, leaning up against the fireplace, swishing the last swallow of brandy around in the empty glass that he held in his hand. Jarrod just sat back listening, pondering each point and argument that was raised. He had been working on passing some reform bills in the state legislature, and he was wondering if either of the two Morton brothers would be candidates if such a bill were to pass. The older of the two boys had certainly displayed some characteristics that weren't common to most outlaws, and the younger one, well, he was still just a kid.

The chattering was halted when a knock was heard at the front door.

"I'll get it" Nick volunteered as he slid off the table where he was half way perched.

"Oh, Sheriff Madden! Come on in! We were just discussing Wes Morton. Any news?"

"Yeah", affirmed the Sheriff, "My men caught up with him in the foothills and he is now in custody in the town jail. I rode out here because I figured you would want to know".

"Yes" replied Victoria, "Thank you very much, Sheriff, for making the trip out"

"Did he put up much of a fight?" cut in Nick.

"No", said Sheriff Madden, "some men are leaders and others are followers - this one seems more to be a follower and without his mother handing down the orders, he was pretty much at loss of what to do".

"What do you think will happen to the brothers?", asked Audra softly.

"Well, they will both stand trial for all the crimes that are attached to the Morton gang - whether or not the charges can be pinned on the brothers individually remains to be seen. The age of the younger one will more than likely hold some bearing in his sentence", hypothesized the Sheriff.

"In other words they'll be needing a good lawyer", Jarrod smiled, as he rose from the chair where he was sitting and headed towards the hat rack for his coat and hat. Turning to the Sheriff, "I don't suppose you'd mind having some company on the ride back into town!?"

"You supposed right!", chuckled Sheriff Madden.

"Well", stated Nick after the two men where out the front door, "looks like I'm outvoted".