Dorothy Garlock (28 page)

“How could you become involved with such men?” she barked, refusing to let him give an answer until after she had said her
piece. “How could you do the things you’ve done?”

Graham Grier could only stand silently, not answering Sophie’s frenzy of questions. His hand never once rose to touch the
red cheek that Sophie had slapped, his eyes turned away and pointed toward the ground. He seemed willing to take the abuse
she was heaping upon him.

Never in Sophie’s wildest dreams would she have imagined that she would strike Graham, or even speak to him so harshly. But
then she also never would have thought that he could do the things that he had done to her and her family. She would get the
answers she was seeking, though she hoped it meant that she wouldn’t have to strike him again.

“How could you just stand there, doing nothing, while a man like Ellis Watts used his rifle to strike down my father?” she
asked accusingly, her voice cracking with emotion. “You let them burn down my family’s barn! And then you just sat there with
your head in your plate while Riley Mason put his hands on me! How could you do all of these things? How can I begin to understand
this, Graham?”

“You can’t,” he agreed. “Not when I can’t understand it myself.”

“Just tell me the truth!”

“I’m telling you that I can’t!”

“Then I’ve got nothing more to say to you!”

Exasperated, Sophie turned on her heel and began to march toward the farm without a second glance. Though it frustrated her
to not learn the reasons for Graham’s bizarre behavior, she was through being played for a fool.
Why did he come if he didn’t want to explain himself?
But she had only gone a few steps before he grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around; even in the near-dark of night,
she could see his eyes glittering.

“Can’t you understand how hard it is for me to even be here?” Graham tried to argue. “The guilt over what’s been done to you
and your family is tearing my insides apart! I can’t sleep! I can’t eat! I can’t do anything without seeing that night replayed
before my eyes!”

“You were here!” Sophie shot back. “You could have stopped it!”

“No, I couldn’t have.”

“You’re a grown man, Graham,” she declared, her voice shot through with anger. “We aren’t children anymore! You made a choice
to accompany those bastards here, so you have to share in the consequences. There’s no one for you to pass blame to besides
yourself.”

“There are… things that you can’t begin to understand, Sophie,” Graham said, turning his back to her and throwing his hands
up toward the night sky in frustration. “Something happened… something that I hadn’t expected and that I now regret. I wish
that it hadn’t occurred, but it’s far too late for that. Try as I might, I can’t take it back.”

“I don’t care.”

“But you have to,” he pleaded. “It’s the only thing that matters.”

“Then tell me what it is.”

Briefly, it seemed as if Graham was going to do as she asked, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, it closed shut yet
again. “I just… I just can’t do that, Sophie.”

“Then we’ve got nothing to say to each other.”

For the flicker of an instant, the thought of another awkward night between the two of them passed across Sophie’s memory;
the moment when Graham professed his feelings for her. She could still see the hurt ripple across his face when she had told
him she didn’t return his affection. Then, just as now, he had also been unable to meet her eyes. After she’d left the diner
in tears, she had wondered if his reasons for joining in the terrorizing of her family weren’t linked to her refusal. It was
a question to which she needed the answer.

“Is this because of what happened between us?” she prodded.

“What… what do you mean?”

“Is this because I refused your advances?” Sophie asked further, the words surprisingly hard to say. “Did you decide to go
along with Ellis and commit these crimes because I told you that I couldn’t be with you, that I didn’t see us as anything
more than friends?”

Graham scarcely moved, didn’t flinch at her accusations, but his hooded eyes rose from the ground to find hers, holding them
steadily. Sophie’s vision had adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to see that, regardless of his true reasons for joining
Ellis Watts’s plan, her rejection had hurt him deeply. There was a time when she would have done anything to take that hurt
away. But now, after all that Graham had done, after meeting Cole Ambrose, she knew that whatever pain this man held, it was
for him and him alone.

“No, Sophie,” he said solemnly. “I give you my word that’s not the reason.”

Though she could see that he wasn’t about to tell her the whole truth, Sophie allowed him his pride. Still, doing so did nothing
to bring her closer to the truth. “Then why, Graham? You at least owe me that.”

“Doesn’t it mean something that I came to see you?”

“Should it?” she asked in amazement. “Not after what you’ve done.” Sophie couldn’t believe how evasive Graham was; if he would
just be honest with her, tell her why he had been with the other men, then maybe,
just maybe
, they could go forward.

“I’m trying to talk to you about what’s happening,” Graham said.

“Then tell me what you’re doing with a man like Ellis Watts. Your father is the town mayor, Graham! What can you be thinking?”

“I’m not with them… out of choice.”

With his hesitance, Sophie suddenly understood that Graham had done some terrible thing, something so horrible that he was
in Ellis Watts’s thrall. But what could it be? “Is this the thing that you can’t talk about?” she asked. “Does Ellis know
what you’ve done?”

Graham paused, as if his mouth had suddenly filled with glue. “Yes,” he finally mumbled.

“What is it that he knows?” she pressed. “Is it something illegal?”

“Yes… no… I don’t know anymore,” Graham answered in exasperation. He suddenly crossed the distance between them, so quickly
that Sophie could do little more than flinch, his hands grabbing her fiercely by the shoulders. His eyes looked wet and pleading.
“Don’t you see that this is precisely the problem? If I tell you what I’ve done, you’ll never want to speak to me again! It
will never be the same between us!”

Gently but firmly, Sophie pulled Graham’s hands free. “What you’ve done cannot be wished away, Graham,” she explained, her
voice calm yet strong. “Refusing to tell me what motivated you won’t make it any less real. What’s done is done. You know
that.”

“Then I’ve already lost you,” he concluded gravely.

Sophie knew that, in a way, Graham’s words were the truth: Cole Ambrose had stolen her heart. While there had undoubtedly
been a time when she’d been confused about her feelings for Graham, there had never been any doubt regarding the emotions
she held for Cole. She had never been Graham’s to lose, but now any hopes he’d had were lost to him forever.

Thinking of Cole dislodged another of Sophie’s memories; that of the bruises and bumps that had colored his face, the result
of a beating at Graham’s hands. There had been so many other things for her to be angry about, so many reasons for her to
be disappointed in her old friend, that she’d forgotten one of the most important. No longer…

“Why did you attack Cole Ambrose?” she asked, her anger rising.

“Sophie, I—” Graham stumbled, surprised.

“Don’t even think of telling me that you had nothing to do with it,” she said, her voice threatening. “Cole told me you were
responsible, that you were acting alone. Tell me why you would do such a thing.”

“Because he’s not good enough for you!” Graham replied harshly.

“That’s not for you to decide.”

“I can’t just stand by while you throw your life away on a… on a cripple!”

The force of Graham’s words struck Sophie just as if he had returned her slap. She recoiled from him, unable to believe that
he would say such a thing, knowing full well that whatever bond had existed between them was now irrevocably broken. Part
of her wanted to cry, but another struggled to maintain her composure. She thought of what her grandmother had told her, about
how the true measure of a man was what was on the inside, and it strengthened her resolve.

“You’ve no right to stand in judgment of me!” she barked.

“What am I to do, Sophie?” Graham asked, incredulous. “How is a man like him, half a man at best, to take care of you? He
can’t truly provide for you, support you, protect you as you deserve. What good is he going to be the next time Ellis and
Riley come for you? He couldn’t even fend me off, what hope does he have against hard men like them!”

A sickening feeling filled the pit of Sophie’s stomach at Graham’s words, bile rising in her throat. Standing before her,
rationalizing what he had done to the wonderful man who had entered her life, Graham was nothing but a shadow of the man she’d
known. With horror, she realized that he was just as dangerous to her and her family as the others, an insight that chilled
her. He’d left her with no other choice.

“Don’t ever speak to me again, Graham,” she said calmly.

“What—?” he started. “What are—?”

“Stay away from Cole and my family or I’ll take what I know to the police.”

“You can’t… you can’t do this, Sophie,” he exclaimed, fear rising in his face as his eyes darted nervously about. “If Ellis
Watts were to be exposed, then he’d have no reason not to take me along with him. If my father were to find out, it would
kill him.”

“Yet you let those two bastards nearly be the death of mine.”

Just as Graham’s words had been nearly as powerful as a physical blow, now her words struck him hard enough to blunt his anger
and his arms dropped to his sides in defeat.

“Don’t make me regret giving you this last chance,” she said simply as she turned and walked away from him, leaving him at
the site where his actions had destroyed the bond between them forever.

This time, he did nothing to stop her.

S
ONG AND LAUGHTER
burst out of the open doors of the Hellers’ barn as if it were floodwaters set free from the gates of a dam. The dancing
light of a blazing bonfire carried skyward toward the moon and sea of stars, while setting shadows dancing across the buildings
and far tree line. Children scurried about underfoot, chasing each other from the darkness to the light and back again, their
squeals of joy mixing with the other sounds in a glorious song.

Sophie walked from the farmhouse to the barn carrying a tray of apple pies still hot and steaming from the oven. She and her
mother had been cooking for hours in anticipation of the festivities; a dance to give thanks to those who had toiled in rebuilding
the destroyed barn. Though the celebration had been going on for hours, there was no telling when it would end. More than
likely, it would continue on through dawn.

As she walked, voices called to her from all around.

“Best save a slice for me, Sophie!”

“Tell your mother to get out of that there kitchen and join in the fun!”

“Here’s to the Hellers!”

Sophie smiled and nodded to each passing call, happy that her family could bring such joy to their neighbors and friends.
Still, her heart remained heavy because of her talk with Graham. Although nearly a week had passed since he’d startled her
in the shadow of the barn, she found herself thinking about it often, replaying the things he had said over and over in her
mind. Even now, she was no closer to understanding.

Get it out of your head, girl! There’s a party to enjoy!

The inside of the barn was even more festive than the exterior. The center of the barn had been cleared and a haphazard array
of chairs and benches lined up around the walls. People milled about, some dancing, some talking, but everyone smiling. A
band had set up in the far corner, consisting of a pair of violins, an accordion, a harmonica, and even someone clinking spoons.
One of the violinists struggled to carry a tune, his deep voice warbling so badly that it was hard to pick out the words,
but no one seemed to mind.

“You just keep it comin’, Chester!” Charley Tatum bellowed from in front of the stage. The heavyset farmer swung and swayed,
occasionally pounding his booted foot on the ground in an odd form of dance, a half-eaten chicken leg clutched in his greasy
hand.

“Right back at you, Charley!” someone yelled back.

Sophie brought the tray of pies over to a long table set near the door and placed it down among the other dishes. All kinds
of food had been brought in great abundance: baked chickens, steaming pots of beans, fresh vegetables and fruits, and pies
and cakes of all shapes and sizes took up nearly every square inch of the table. It was truly a feast.

Still receiving thanks for all that she and her family had done to throw such a magnificent barn dance, Sophie searched the
room for sign of Cole. She found him leaning casually against one of the barn’s support beams, tapping his foot rhythmically
to the music.

Moving toward him, Sophie couldn’t help but smile. Cole looked dapper this evening, his blond hair perfectly combed, his shirt
starched and shoes shined, handsome not beginning to describe him. He’d come early, helping to set up the party against her
father’s protestations that he didn’t need to lift a finger, but it had been more than an hour since she’d last seen him.

An hour too long!

Cole looked up as she neared and a bright smile lit his face. Sophie was glad to see him escape his worries, if only for a
little while. It had been more than a week since Robert Ambrose’s mishap at the hardware store. Though he was still confined
to bed with occasional bouts of dizziness, he continued to show marked improvement, both physically and in his relationship
with his son; it appeared that near-tragedy had brought them closer together. It had been his father who had encouraged Cole
to go and enjoy the dance.

“I expected to find you lurking over by the food table,” she said when she got near him, sliding up close enough to be heard
over the noise of the band. “There are an awful lot of good things to eat.”