Cord chuckled when Charlie brought the catfish in. "You sure do."
After passing him some water, Charlie asked. "Did you kill many men?"
Cord hung his head and nodded. "Yes, I did. But except for the war, they needed killing. They were bad men out to do harm to good people. I was hired to kind of settle the scores. You see sometimes bad men take advantage of good people."
"Was the war bad?"
"Yeah." Cord sighed heavily. "It was. All wars are bad. You face people you don't know, and people you do. And afterwards you wonder why you were part of it."
"Why did they have a war in the first place?"
Cord put his arms behind his head and stretched. "Lots of reasons. Some say it was over slavery. Others over state's rights. I kind of figured that maybe the northern people didn't understand the southern people."
"Why'd you go?"
"Because what I done here was making problems for the people I cared about. I thought with me gone, things would get better." Cord explained. "And the war took some time to fight."
"Did they get better?"
"Yeah, I guess so. In time. But it took a long time…" Cord admitted.
"How old was you when you went?"
"Seventeen, almost eighteen…"
Then things got quiet and they both took a little snooze. But Cord quickly decided he liked Charlie and he would be proud to call him his son.
Later as they gathered their gear and headed back to town, walking their horses, Charlie ran and grabbed Cord and hugged him. "Thanks." He said simply.
Cord was so touched he choked up for a moment. "What for?" He managed to ask.
"For being my Pa." Charlie told him and kept walking. "I ain't never had a Pa before."
When he took him back to the saloon, Charlie presented Lilly with their catch and she told him to go clean them so she could cook them for supper.
Charlie ran behind the counter and into the kitchen.
"Can he clean them, by himself?" Cord asked.
"Been doing it for a couple of years now. Barney, the bartender showed him how." Lilly chuckled.
Cord looked at her with a lump in his throat.
"What's wrong?" Lilly saw the confusion on Cord's face.
"He's an awfully good kid, Lilly…"
Lilly smiled and stared into Cord's eyes. "Yes, he is… Stay for supper, Cord?"
"I'd love to, I guess I'll make myself useful and help him clean those fish, it was quite a mess of them." Cord flashed her a smile and a wink.
At the supper table Liam, the black man who cleaned the saloon for Lilly joined them and Cord got to know a little about the man.
"You have family Liam?" Cord asked as Lilly buttered the biscuits.
"No sir, not any more."
Cord glanced at Lilly not knowing if he should ask any more questions.