Clifton County Fireworks by Joannie Kay Page B

she said if she tried to
explain it right now.
    Once the Sheriff returned with the
Doctor, he thanked Johnny for his help and demanded to know who the third gun
belonged to.  Johnny answered him and the Sheriff shook his head. 
“You need to settle that girl down, son.  She could have been
killed.  Those were real bullets flying out there!”
    “Yes, sir.  I know.”   Johnny agreed, and then he went searching
for Jennie Rose.  He spotted his brother, and Jeremy had no idea where the
redhead was hiding.  But, he and his buddies fell in behind Johnny to look
for her.  It wasn’t long before Johnny had quite a following as he
searched for Jennie Rose, and when he approached Robert and explained why he
was looking for her, the man nodded in approval.  “I also want to ask her
to marry me, sir, with your blessing?”  Robert gave it, and then joined
the crowd.  One thing was certain, there was going to be fireworks for
sure this night!
    Jennie Rose was looking at the quilts
and voting for her favorite one when she heard Johnny and the group of people
following him.  She debated on running, and taking the time to do that,
but Johnny was at her side in mere seconds.  “You are in so much trouble,
young lady!”   He growled.
    “Johnny Tanner!  What is the
meaning of this?”   Abigail demanded,
stepping from behind the pile of quilts she was judging.
    “Ma, Jennie Rose interfered in a bank
robbery.  She could have been hurt or killed.  Those were real
bullets!”   He repeated the Sheriff’s
words.
    “I only wanted to protect you, Johnny
Tanner!  There’s no need to get all huffy with me over it!”
    “Your father gave me permission to turn
you over my knee.”   He announced.
    Jennie Rose hollered bloody murder and
tried to get away from him, but he sat down on a bench and pulled her over his
knee and started spanking her rounded bottom.  “Don’t you ever risk your
life like that again, Jennie Rose!”   He scolded while he rained spank after spank on her tender bottom.
    “Stop it, Johnny!  You apologized
for doing this two years ago, remember?”   She reminded him.
    “I apologized for spanking you
publicly, but I sure didn’t apologize for giving you a spanking.  You had
it coming then, and you have it coming to you now!  And I guarantee my
hand will outlast your backside and you admit it.”
    “I won’t!”   She yelled.  “I won’t!”
    “Yes you will, little girl!”   He argued. 
    “Okay!  Okay!  I shouldn’t
have tried to protect you!  I just couldn’t help myself!”   She cried.  “I don’t want you to
get killed, Johnny!”   She started
crying in earnest.
    “I don’t want you killed, either,
honey.”   He picked her up and held
her on his lap.  “Don’t cry now.  If you’re going to be my wife,
you’re going to have to get used to the work I do.  I’m a lawman, honey,
and that means stopping criminals when they decide to break the law.”
    “Wife?”   She raised her eyes to look at him in
confusion.
    Johnny picked her up and sat her on the
bench while he got down on one knee, “Miss Jennie Rose Clifton, I love you with
all my heart.  Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
    “Yes, I will!  Oh Johnny!”   She kissed him just as the first
fireworks of the night went off.  The people ooohhed and ahhhhed !  Johnny and Jennie Rose missed most
of the fireworks because they were creating their own, uncaring that the entire
town knew exactly how they felt about each other.
     
    One year later…
    “I thought you were supposed to be at
home, Mrs. Tanner?”   Sheriff Johnny
Tanner growled as he slipped up behind his wife.  He’d taken over the job
when the Sheriff decided to retire after the attempted bank holdup last year.
 “We agreed you could come to the picnic, but you should be at home in bed
right now, getting some rest.”
    “Oh, Johnny, I just didn’t want to miss
the fireworks, and I wanted to spend some of the