{"id":1551,"date":"2026-10-20T04:08:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T04:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/?p=1551"},"modified":"2026-10-20T04:08:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T04:08:39","slug":"sleep-beside-me-tonight-mountain-man-but-dont-look-under-the-blanket-until-i-tell-you-the-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/?p=1551","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSleep Beside Me Tonight, Mountain Man\u2026 But Don’t Look Under the Blanket Until I Tell You the Truth!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cLet me sleep beside you tonight, Jacob. I know you don’t trust me, but someone is coming.\u201d
Jacob Blackwood stared at the young woman standing in his bedroom.
Her name was Emma Reed.
She was twenty-five, exhausted, and frightened.
Earlier that afternoon, Jacob had paid twenty dollars to settle the debt keeping her at a mountain trading station.
He intended to take her safely to town.
Instead, Emma begged him to bring her to his cabin.
Now she stood beside his bed.
\u201cWhy would anyone follow you here?\u201d Jacob asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Emma looked toward the window.
\u201cBecause I know something I shouldn’t.\u201d
\u201cAbout what?\u201d
\u201cYour wife.\u201d
Jacob went still.
\u201cMy wife died five years ago.\u201d
Emma shook her head.
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


He stepped closer.
\u201cWhat did you say?\u201d
\u201cCatherine Blackwood is alive.\u201d
Jacob grabbed the bedpost.
\u201cDon’t play games with me.\u201d
\u201cI’m not.\u201d
\u201cThen where is she?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Emma reached beneath her shawl.
She removed a silver necklace.
Jacob recognized it instantly.
He had given Catherine that necklace on their wedding day.
\u201cWhere did you get this?\u201d
\u201cShe gave it to me.\u201d
\u201cWhen?\u201d
\u201cThree months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Jacob felt the room spin.
For five years, he had mourned his wife.
Her wagon had been found overturned beside a frozen river.
There was no body.
Only blood on the snow.
Everyone told him she was gone.
Now this stranger claimed otherwise.
\u201cTell me everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Emma sat on the bed.
\u201cCatherine was taken to the trading station after the accident.\u201d
\u201cWhy didn’t she come home?\u201d
\u201cBecause the owner wouldn’t let her.\u201d
Jacob’s expression hardened.
\u201cBriggs?\u201d
Emma nodded.
\u201cHe kept women there using false debts and stolen documents.\u201d
\u201cAnd Catherine?\u201d
\u201cShe helped them escape.\u201d
Jacob stared.
\u201cMy Catherine?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Emma smiled sadly.
\u201cShe was braver than anyone.\u201d
He remembered his wife’s stubborn courage.
The way she defended strangers.
The way she refused to ignore suffering.
It sounded exactly like her.
\u201cWhere is she now?\u201d
Emma looked down.
\u201cI don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Jacob stepped backward.
\u201cYou said she was alive.\u201d
\u201cShe was when I left.\u201d
His jaw tightened.
\u201cWhy didn’t you tell the marshal?\u201d
\u201cI tried.\u201d
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d
\u201cBriggs found out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Emma pulled back her sleeve.
A deep bruise circled her wrist.
Jacob’s anger grew.
He turned toward the door.
\u201cI’m going after him.\u201d
\u201cNo!\u201d
Emma grabbed his hand.
\u201cThat’s what he wants.\u201d
Jacob frowned.
\u201cWhat?\u201d
\u201cHe knows you’ll come for Catherine.\u201d
\u201cThen why send you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Emma began trembling.
\u201cHe didn’t send me. I escaped.\u201d
Suddenly, the cabin went silent.
Outside, a horse whinnied.
Jacob reached for his rifle.
Emma rushed toward the window.
Three riders stood beside the fence.
A woman sat on the middle horse.
Her face was hidden beneath a dark hood.
Jacob’s heart began pounding.
The woman slowly lifted her head.
Catherine.
He staggered backward.
\u201cMy God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Emma whispered:
\u201cDon’t open the door.\u201d
Jacob turned.
\u201cThat’s my wife!\u201d
Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
\u201cI know.\u201d
\u201cThen why are you stopping me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


She pointed toward the rider behind Catherine.
Jacob recognized him.
Briggs.
He was holding a revolver against Catherine’s back.
Then Catherine called:
\u201cJacob! Don’t believe the girl!\u201d
Emma began crying.
\u201cShe’s not talking to you.\u201d
Jacob stared.
\u201cWhat?\u201d
Emma whispered:
\u201cShe’s warning me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLet me sleep beside you tonight, Jacob. I know you don’t trust me, but someone is coming.\u201dJacob Blackwood stared at the young woman standing in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-model","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1554,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551\/revisions\/1554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amazingworlds.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}