Shotgun Groom (4 page)

talk-”

“Sit down!” Sep lifted the rifle and pointed it at Joel, his

finger on the trigger.

April rushed over to Sep and tried to take the gun from him,

but he dodged her. “You can’t kil him,” she said, her heart

pounding anxiously in her chest. What was her brother

thinking?

Sep rol ed his eyes. “I’m not going to kil him. We need

him.”

“Nora’s fine. You don’t need me,” Joel argued.

“Oh yes, we do. You’re marrying my sister,” Sep told him.

“What?” April shrieked.

“You can’t be serious,” Joel added, blanching.

“I’m as serious as can be,” Sep said, not taking his eyes off

of Joel. “Sit down or I shoot. I might not kil you, but I can do

some damage.”

A tense silence fil ed the room, and April made another

attempt to take the gun, but Sep stepped to the side. She

grunted. For a fourteen-year-old, he sure was quick on his

feet!

“Look, my sister needs a husband,” Sep began, keeping

his gaze level with Joel’s, “and she needs a good one. I’m

sick of watching men mistreat her. So, you’re going to

marry her whether you like it or not.”

It was then April understood what her brother was doing.

Chances were good that Lou would be back, and next time,

he might not be drunk. Her stomach knotted up at the

memory of his hands on her body. He had no intention of

stopping. Thanks to Sep and the fact that Lou was too

drunk to shoot straight, Lou didn’t succeed. But they might

not be so lucky next time unless they had a man Lou’s age

to stand up to him.

Joel shook his head and looked at her. “You’re not going to

let him keep that thing pointed at me, are you? It’s not a

toy.”

She bit her lower lip and glanced from Nora to Sep whose

worried expression pierced her heart. Next time, Lou might

not miss when he shot Sep.

“You can deal with me,” Sep snapped. “Now, sit!”

Nora’s lower lip trembled before she cried.

“Sep, you’re scaring her,” April softly pleaded. “Wil you

stop?”

Sep ignored her, his finger stroking the trigger of the gun

which was aimed for Joel’s arm.

Glancing from April to a wailing Nora, Joel sat down.

“Hands where I can see them!” Sep demanded.

Joel raised his hands in the air, and Nora settled down.

Gulping the lump in her throat, April asked Sep, “Wil you

please get your finger off the trigger?”

Sep did and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Joel threw his hands on the table and groaned. “This can’t

be happening.”

Her heart stil beating loudly in her chest, she turned her

gaze to the flour and bowl. No doubt the water in the pot on

the cook stove was warm enough to mix the ingredients in.

“We can discuss it…after breakfast.” She offered a weak

smile at a bewildered Joel. “Did you eat yet?”

“I’m not eating anything in this house,” Joel snapped.

“Then you already ate?” she asked, forcing a cheerful tone

in her voice.

“No,” Joel replied.

“A man shouldn’t venture out to a farm without a ful

stomach.” Her hands trembled as she opened the sack of

flour. “We’re having pancakes this morning. I’l get the

coffee going in a bit.”

Joel grunted and rol ed his eyes. Nora giggled in response.

He glanced at her and shook his head again as if he

couldn’t believe this was happening. Sep pul ed out the

chair across from Joel and sat down, keeping his rifle

directed at him.

April concentrated on getting breakfast ready while the men

waited in a tense silence. Had it not been for Nora’s playful

squeals, April wouldn’t have been able to keep on working

as if nothing was wrong. She avoided eye contact with Joel

and Sep for the most part because it was easier to pretend

the gun wasn’t in the middle of the room that way. At least

she had the assurance that her brother was steady with a

gun, so he wouldn’t pul the trigger by accident.

She started humming to herself like she often did while

cooking, but recal ing the company in the room, she

stopped. Once she got the coffee ready, she poured it into

the cups and placed them in front of Sep and Joel. Daring a

glance in Joel’s direction, she caught his piercing stare and

quickly looked away. Alright. To say he was upset would be

a slight understatement. He was much more than upset. He

was furious.

And who could blame him? He was one of the few people

who’d been nice to her and Sep in the past year, and this

was how they treated him? She turned her gaze to Sep, but

his attention was on Joel.

She cleared her throat and looked back at Joel. “It’s not that

Sep wants to force you into a marriage.”

“Then don’t,” Joel snapped. “Get that gun out of my way and

let me go.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Sure it is.”

He stood up, and Sep stood up with him, shoving the gun

toward him.

“Sep, you don’t have to be so…so…” April tried to think of

the right word, but her mind drew a blank.

“Do you want Lou coming back?” Sep demanded, not

taking his eyes off of Joel.

Her face flushed in a mixture of fear and shame. “Of course

not.”

“Then we don’t have a choice, do we?” he asked.

“We can at least explain the situation to Joel.”

“Stop talking about me as if I’m not here,” Joel said.

After a moment of awkward silence, she took a deep

breath and nodded. “Fair enough. Joel, there is no one

here to protect us. Our pa went to be with the Lord right

before I married Harvey. Now Harvey got himself kil ed

during a gambling game where he was doing something he

shouldn’t be doing. And now Harvey’s younger brother

thinks it’s his turn to take over the place, and when I told him

no, he didn’t take it wel .”

Sep snorted. “That’s not the way I’d explain it.”

“Sep,” she warned. Joel didn’t need to know the part that

stil made her nauseous. “Anyway, Lou’s not a good man.

But you’re a decent man, and you’re good with children.

You’l be good to us.”

“And if I don’t want to be here?” Joel pointedly asked.

“And if I don’t want to be here?” Joel pointedly asked.

“That’s not an option,” Sep replied before she could speak.

“You’ve told him enough, April. It doesn’t matter to me if he

agrees to it or not. He’s marrying you.”

“So this is what I get for being nice? Wonderful,” Joel

muttered as he sat back down.

“I’m sorry, Joel,” she whispered. “If Lou didn’t come by here

yesterday—”

“Wil you please get the pancakes?” Sep interrupted. “He

doesn’t need to know anything else, and Nora’s beginning

to fuss.”

Since Nora was whimpering in a way that let April know she

was ready to cry in a shril voice unless she got something

to eat very soon, April returned to the cook stove. She put

the pancakes on the plates and set them out with a smal

amount of syrup to conserve as much as possible for the

future. Sitting next to Nora, she helped her daughter with the

meal. Though she didn’t have an appetite, she forced

herself to eat, knowing they couldn’t afford to waste the

food.

She didn’t expect Joel to eat his portion, but with a heavy

sigh, he cut into his pancakes and ate it. That was good.

She didn’t want him to go hungry. When they were done

eating, she gathered the plates and cleaned Nora up. Sep

walked over to the kitchen door and opened it. Surprised,

she looked outside and saw that the snow had picked up.

He glanced at Joel and smiled. “Just as I thought. We’re

having a snowstorm. You’re stuck here whether you like it or

not. I’m going to put that sleigh and horse of yours in the

barn. When the weather improves enough, we’l find a

preacher to make the marriage official.”

Joel glowered at him. “I would have made it back to town in

plenty of time had it not been for you delaying me.” His eyes

went to the gun for emphasis.

“I knew the storm was coming. We’l have a blizzard within

the next hour,” Sep said. “Someone up there is tel ing us

this marriage is meant to be. I’l be back soon, sis.” He left

the house and shut the door behind him.

“Up, up!” Nora yel ed.

April hurried over to her and released her from the

highchair. Holding Nora in her arms, she ventured, “I know

this looks bad, but Sep’s a good brother. He’s only

protecting me.”

Joel’s response was to put his face in his hands and groan.

Not knowing what else she might say or do to make the

situation easier, she decided to change Nora’s diaper and

let him have his space. Her pa and Harvey needed their

space when they were upset, so she figured the same was

true for every man. Maybe when she returned, he’d feel

better about the situation. She could only pray that things

would work out and, in due time, he’d be happy to be her

husband.

Chapter Four

As soon as April took her daughter out of the kitchen, Joel

headed for the door. He quietly opened it, glanced over his

shoulder to make sure she hadn’t returned, and softly shut

the door behind him. Taking his gloves out of his coat

pockets, he slipped them on. Good. Her loony brother was

nowhere in sight. It might be snowing harder than before,

but Joel had enough experience traveling in the snow to

know he could make it back to town by horse if he got to it.

He pul ed up the hood of his coat and tightened the strings

around his neck to brace against the wind. With a cautious

scan of the property, he noted that Sep had, indeed, taken

his horse and sleigh to the barn. Wel , as his ma was fond

of saying, there was more than one way to skin a cat. He

might not be able to get to his horse directly, but

unfortunately for Sep and April, Joel was good at sneaking

into places. With a barn that had seen better days, there

was bound to be a loose board somewhere.

He hurried down the porch steps and made his way to the

back of the barn which was hidden from the house. Good. If

April happened to look out the window, she wouldn’t see

him. With the wind blowing the snow around, she probably

wouldn’t see his footsteps either. For extra measure, he

glanced back and was reassured when he didn’t see her

peering out any of the windows. Once he got to the side of

the barn where Sep wouldn’t see him if he left it, Joel took

another look at the house. He didn’t know why he didn’t

notice it sooner, but the house needed work. Turning his

attention back to the barn, he saw it needed work, too. Who

in the world was in charge of repairs here?

He shook his head. “It’s not my problem,” he whispered to

himself and hurried to the back of the barn.

Sure enough, there were a couple of loose boards, and as

luck would have it, he was slender enough to squeeze

between them. He knelt in the snow and listened for

anything that might tel him what Sep was doing, but the

only thing he heard was the howling wind. Wel , he was

either going to do this or he wasn’t. Being as quiet as he

could, he touched one of the wobbly boards and it

snapped. Surprised it broke with such ease, he stared at it

for a second before he tossed it aside.

If he was going to do this, he had to be quick. If Sep was

stil inside the barn, he was bound to hear Joel at some

point. Joel’s only hope was getting into the barn and

sneaking up on Sep before he found him. Joel pul ed a

couple more boards off of the barn and flung them to the

ground. He leaned forward on his hands and knees and

started crawling into the barn when someone kicked him in

the behind.

Taken off guard, Joel lost his balance and his forehead hit

a board that was stil in place. “Ow!” he cried as pain shot

through his head and down his back.

“I suggest you get back to the house,” Sep said.

Grunting, Joel got up on his feet and turned to his opponent

who, despite being fourteen, was a formidable one. His

eyes went to Sep’s gun which was pointed straight at him.

“Doesn’t that get old?” Joel asked, pushing the gun away.

Sep brought it back to Joel’s chest. “Nope.”

“I’m tired of these games. I’m not staying and there’s

nothing you can do to make me.”

Joel took one step passed Sep when Sep tripped him and

pressed his foot on Joel’s back. The gun touched the back

of Joel’s neck, and for a moment, Joel’s life flashed before

his eyes. Sadly, there wasn’t much to show for it. He spent