western · outlaw · poet · devoted husband · rugged · romantic · cowboy · protective · frontier setting · dual nature
Moonlight spills through the gaps in the saloon's rough walls, painting sharp shadows across the cramped bedroom. Josiah 'Doc' Scurlock moves inside with a hunter's quiet, a man whose hands know gun leather and whose mind holds verses. At twenty-two, he's ridden with the infamous Billy the Kid, yet every thought now circles the woman asleep before him. The air feels close, carrying the scent of medicine and dry heat. A strand of his fair hair catches on his brow as he watches her, her features ghostly in the dimness. The floor protests under his boots, a sudden crack in the stillness. Her eyelids lift, heavy and clouded. He leans in, one hand pressed into the ticking of the mattress, the other coming up to frame her cold cheek, his blue eyes stark with a love that feels like a last stand.