I broke off with a sob. Suddenly, it was all too much. I couldn’t even look at him, because every time I did, he dazzled my eyes, like he was the most glorious Christmas tree that had ever existed. I buried my face in my hands and wept.

Maybe I had done enough, I told myself. Maybe tipping him off about Maria and Diego’s plan would make him turn around tonight and go home. Even though the tip had come from what he obviously considered an unreliable source. I couldn’t do anything more, could I? I mean, how else could I get him to believe me?

Then I remembered.

I dropped my hands from my face and looked up at him, not caring if he saw my tears.

“Doctor,” I said.

“Yes.” Jesse had fished a handkerchief from somewhere and handed it to me, his anger apparently dissipated. “Let me get one for you. I really feel that, despite what you say, Miss Susannah, you are unwell—”

“No.” I pushed the handkerchief away impatiently. “Not for me. You.”

A small smile appeared at the corners of his lips. “I need a doctor? I assure you, Miss Susannah, I have never felt fitter in my life.”

“No.” I stumbled to my feet. It was the first time I’d tried to stand since he’d untied me, and I wasn’t exactly steady.

Still, I managed to get up without his help. Now I stood in front of him, breathing hard—but from emotion not exertion.

“A doctor,” I said, looking up into his confident, concerned face. He was a good six inches taller than me, but I didn’t care. I kept my chin up.

“You secretly want to be a doctor,” I said. “You haven’t asked him, but you know your father won’t let you. He needs you to run the ranch, because you’re the only boy. They couldn’t spare you long enough for you to get through medical school, anyway.”

Something happened to Jesse’s face then. The glint of suspicion that I’d seen in his eye since I’d shown him the miniature portrait dropped away, and in its place came something else….

Something like wonder.

“How… ?” Jesse stared down at me in utter incredulity. “How could you possibly have… ? I have never told anyone that.”

I reached out and took one of his hands… …and was shocked by how warm it felt in mine. All those times Jesse had held me… all those times he’d stroked my hair and I’d marveled at his heat… I knew now it hadn’t been real, that heat. It had all been in my head. This, this heat was real. This hand was real. The hard calluses I knew so well… they were real. Really Jesse.

“You told me,” I said to him. “You told me in the future.”

Jesse shook his head, but not hard. Just a little.

“That… that’s not possible,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, it is. You see, what happens tonight is that Diego kills you. But only your body dies, Jesse. Your soul doesn’t go anywhere, because… well, because I think it wasn’t supposed to happen like that.” I gazed up at him tenderly, still holding his hand. “I think you were supposed to live. But you didn’t. So your soul hung around until I came along, about a hundred and fifty years later. I’m someone who helps… well, people who’ve died. You told me you wanted to be a doctor, Jesse. You told me in the future. Do you believe me now? Will you please go away from here and never come back?”

Jesse looked down at our entwined fingers, mine so pale against his sun-darkened skin, so soft against his calluses. He didn’t say anything. What could he have said, really?

But because he was Jesse, he thought of something to say… the exact right thing to say.

“If you know something like that about me,” he said softly, “about my wanting to be a doctor—something I have never told Maria—or any living person—then I must… I suppose I must… believe you.”

“So,” I said. “Now you know. You’ve got to get out of here, Jesse. Just get on your horse and ride.”

“I will,” he said.

We were standing so close, all he’d have had to do was reach out, and he could have cupped my face in his hand.

He didn’t, of course.

But I could feel the warmth radiating from him, not just from the hand I held, but along the course of his entire body. He was so vibrant, so alive, that he made me feel aware of every hair on my head, every corpuscle in my skin. I loved him so much…

…and he’d never, ever know it.

But that was all right. Because at least he’d be able to go on living.

“But not,” Jesse said, suddenly dropping my hand and turning away, “tonight.”

I stood there, feeling as if I’d been kicked. Cool air rushed into all the places that, moments before, had been warmed by his body heat.

“W-what?” I stammered stupidly. “Not what?”

“Not tonight,” Jesse said with a nod toward the barn doors, through which, I could see, the lengthening shadows were gone. The sun had set. There were no shadows anymore. “Tomorrow I will ride to the de Silvas’ ranch to speak with Maria and her father. But not tonight. It’s growing late. Too late to travel. I’ll stay here tonight, and leave in the morning.”

“But you can’t!” The words were wrenched from the depths of my soul. “You’ve got to leave now, Jesse, tonight! You don’t understand, it’s too dangerous—”

An all-too-familiar smile crept across those lips I knew so well. “I can take care of myself, Miss Susannah,” he said. “I am not afraid of Felix Diego.”

I couldn’t believe what was happening right before my eyes.

“Well, you should be!” I practically screamed. “Considering that he kills you!”

“Ah,” Jesse said. “But if I understand you correctly, that was before you came to warn me… for which I thank you.”

I couldn’t believe how badly this was going.

“Jesse,” I said, making one last desperate attempt to reason with him. “You can’t spend the night in that house. Do you understand? It’s way, way too dangerous.”

But Jesse surprised me. Well, why not? He always had.

“I understand,” he said.

“You do?” I stared at him. “Really? Then you’ll go?”

“No,” he said, “I won’t go.”