Stay With Me (14 page)

He’d planned to ride to town this morning,
after church hours, hoping his mother would have a full weekly dose
of Christian spirit. His grace period had shortened considerably.
It wouldn’t take Deputy Lewis long to get to his wife and even less
time for Lana Lewis to get to his mother.

He walked toward the little white house on
the edge of town, smiling when he saw the yellow daffodils and some
other purple flower that he couldn’t name. His mother had always
loved flowers. Before knocking on the door, he pulled out his
pocket-watch.

Just before five. It would be day soon.

Given his mother’s propensity to rise early,
he hoped she might already be out of bed. Even so, she wouldn’t be
expecting company at this hour. He couldn’t just walk in. His
mother’s house, unlike most of the houses in Cedarbrook, had locks
on both the front and back doors. He’d installed them himself.

He knocked and, within seconds, saw the
slight movement of the lace curtains on the window to his left. He
shifted, giving her an opportunity to see him. He heard a lock
click and the door flew open. She reached out and pulled him
inside, her still-strong grip tight around his forearm. “What
happened?” she said, giving him a thorough once-over.

He rushed to reassure her. “Nothing’s wrong,”
he lied, knowing that nothing would ever be right again. How could
it be? He wasn’t happy Sarah had come back and he wouldn’t be happy
when she had left. It was a hell of a mess.

He smiled at his mother and sniffed the air.
“Is that coffee?”

She nodded and assessed him through narrowed
eyes. “It is. And if you want a cup, you’ll tell me in the next
three seconds why you’re knocking at my door at five o’clock.”

He draped an arm around her shoulder. “I
will, I promise. But please have pity on a desperate man. I’ve been
up for hours and I’ve had no coffee.”

She waited until they were both seated at the
small kitchen table with steaming cups of coffee before prompting
him again. “How are things at the ranch?”

“Fine.”

“Fred and his children?”

“Good.”

She paused. “I’m out of ideas.”

John shook his head. “This is one you
probably wouldn’t guess.” He took a deep breath. “Sarah’s
back.”

A bit of coffee sloshed out of his mother’s
cup. Deliberately she lowered her hand and set the cup in the
saucer, with an audible clink. “What does she want?”

“I don’t know,” John admitted. “At first, I
thought she came back for more money. But now I’m not sure. It’s
strange, Ma, really strange. She showed up at the cabin, her feet
bare and cut up. She seemed almost dazed.”

“How did she get there?”

“Said she walked.”

“From Cheyenne?”

He shrugged. “She’s not saying much more than
that. She seems anxious to get back to Cheyenne and plans to go on
the next stage. She’s been helping Fred with his children.”

“She’s been helping? With the children?”

John laughed. “And not complaining once.”

“Is she trying to trap Fred?”

“I worried about that,” John said. “Then I
had a bit of bad luck with a horse and she helped me, too.”

“You were hurt?”

“No. Banged up my head a little, that’s all.
Anyway, Sarah took care of the animals and well, hell, she made me
soup.” His mother might as well know it all.

John thought he’d never see what happened
next. His mother, at barely five o’clock in the morning, calmly got
up from her kitchen table, walked to the corner cupboard, pulled
out a whiskey bottle, returned to the table, and dumped a liberal
amount in her coffee cup. “Where is she now?” she asked.

“At the hotel.”

“Right down the street?” She picked up her
cup and took a big drink.

“She ran into a spot of trouble last night.
She broke up a fight between a man and one of the saloon girls.
Probably saved the girl’s life.”

“Did she get hurt?”

“No. Scared.” He did not want his mother to
know that she’d literally melted in his arms. Or that he’d hardened
like a stone. She’d drink the whole bottle of whiskey and be at the
saloon begging for more.

“I went to see Deputy Lewis.”

“Oh. I imagine his Lana can’t wait to tell
me. I’m surprised she didn’t beat you to the door.”

“I’ve got longer legs,” John said.

His mother laughed. “She’s going back to
Cheyenne on the Wednesday stage?”

“Yes.”

She picked up her cup and drained it. “It’s
nothing to worry about. After all, what can happen in three
days?”

***

On his way back to the hotel, John stopped by
Brickstone’s café. Rosie, her hands rough from work, paused, her
pencil still, when he ordered four breakfasts to be packed up. She
didn’t say a word and, after a few seconds, finished taking down
his order. He knew there was little need to explain. He’d seen
Rosie Brickstone and Lana Lewis together on more than one occasion.
The two would have their heads huddled together before long.
Everybody would know that Sarah Beckett had come back to town.
Everybody would be watching, waiting, hoping for the fireworks.

He wanted to tell the whole bunch of them to
go to hell. They hadn’t felt Sarah’s body shake, the terror, the
absolute gut-wrenching fear, making her weak. They hadn’t seen the
despair in her pretty eyes. He had. He didn’t think he’d forget it
for some time.

When he got back to the hotel, he saw that
Deputy Lewis had beat him. The man had probably hoped to get
statements from Suzanne, Sarah, and Freedom before John came
back.

Suzanne sat up in bed, Freedom stood against
one wall, and Sarah paced around the room, talking while she
walked. When she saw him, she missed a step. He smiled at her. She
didn’t smile back.

She resumed her pacing. “I don’t understand
why you can’t go after him,” she said. “How can you let this go
unpunished?”

“I ain’t letting it go unpunished and I wish
people would stop saying that,” Deputy Lewis said, standing in the
middle of the room.

He’d washed his face but he didn’t smell a
whole lot better.

“I’m the only law in town,” Deputy Lewis
said, his voice filled with self-importance. “I can’t just up and
take off after some man who could be halfway across the state. I’ll
send a wire out. That’s the best I can do.”

John had his doubts that any wire would get
sent. Sarah didn’t look very satisfied, either.

“So people, other lawmen, will know to be
looking for him?”

“Were you listening? That’s what I just said,
isn’t it?”

Sarah frowned at the man and then ran her
tongue over her teeth. John felt the answering tug deep in his gut
and wondered how his body could turn on him so.

Sarah looked first at Suzanne, then at
Freedom, and finally at John. He prayed the need didn’t show on his
face. When Sarah turned toward Deputy Lewis, John relaxed.

“Do you have all the information you need
from us?” she asked. “I think Suzanne is tired.”

Deputy Lewis shuffled his feet and turned
toward Suzanne. “She ain’t the only one. By the way, has anybody
told Thomas about your injuries?”

Suzanne shook her head.

“Thomas?” Sarah asked.

“Thomas Jefferson,” Deputy Lewis
answered.

For a quick moment, Sarah looked like she
might be sick. She stopped pacing and put her hand over her
mouth.

“Thomas Jefferson bought the saloon three
months ago,” John said. “He’ll be expecting Suzanne tonight.”

“Of course,” Sarah laughed, somewhat oddly he
thought. “That Thomas Jefferson. I certainly didn’t think it was
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.”

“President Jefferson had himself a whole
bunch of slaves,” Freedom said. “Freedom’s momma said Mr. Jefferson
could be Freedom’s granddaddy.”

Sarah nodded, as if she believed that
wild-ass tale.

Deputy Lewis shook his head at both of
them.

Wonderful. More stories for John’s
mother.

“Deputy Lewis,” John said, “if you’re done, I
think we should conclude. Nobody has had much sleep.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Deputy Lewis
promised.

Now that, John didn’t doubt. Lewis’s wife
would want the latest updates.

***

John and Freedom ate their breakfasts
standing up. Suzanne and Sarah, huddled together, sat on the bed,
soft murmurs between the two of them. Suzanne ate only a couple
bites before waving Freedom over to take her plate. The man, ever
gracious, offered to split it with John. When John declined,
Freedom couldn’t keep his smile hidden. John understood that when a
man didn’t get to eat in the morning more than once or twice a
week, having two breakfasts in one day was just pure
indulgence.

When Sarah put her plate aside, John was
pleased to see that she’d eaten the majority of her food. She
seemed more delicate than he remembered. Everything from her wrists
to her ribs to her ankles seemed smaller. Not for the first time,
he wondered what hard times Sarah had fallen upon in the last six
months. Was that what had changed her?

He saw Suzanne’s eyelids flutter shut and
sure enough, in just minutes, she was asleep. He motioned for Sarah
to join him in the hall. Freedom excused himself as well, saying it
was time to report to work.

“She didn’t eat much,” John said. He leaned
against the wall, one foot braced up against it. Two feet away,
Sarah sat on the top step, her long skirt spread out around
her.

“Can you blame her? She said a couple of her
teeth are loose.”

“If Mitchell Dority walked in here right now,
he’d leave without any of his teeth.”

Sarah nodded. “I want to kill him,” she
said.

John jerked away from the wall. She’d said it
without emotion, without fear. “You stay away from Mitchell
Dority,” he warned. “You can’t handle him.”

She shrugged.

“Until that stage gets here on Wednesday, you
better come back to the ranch.”

“That’s not a good idea,” she said.

He had his own reasons for knowing that. He’d
spend the next three days hard, his buttons about to burst. For her
safety, however, he’d endure it. “Why?”

“We’re like oil and water.”

“What?”

“We don’t mix well.”

“You don’t have a choice,” he said.

She snorted, a very unladylike snort. “There
are more than a few things I don’t have much choice about right
now. But where I spend the next three nights, is purely up to
me.”

How the hell could he protect her if she
didn’t come home? “Be sensible, Sarah. Dority could come back.”

“I know. That’s why I need to stay with
Suzanne. She’s in no shape to protect herself.”

“That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard today,”
John said.

“The day’s early,” Sarah said. She stood up
and dusted off her backside. Her sweet, round bottom. “Go home,
John. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer. I do. And even
more so, I really appreciate you coming this morning. I’m not sure
I could have handled it without you.”

He really wanted to pound a fist against
something or somebody. “Fine. Both you and Suzanne can come back to
the ranch.” His mother was going to love this.

“She won’t go.”

“How do you know?”

“I already suggested something very similar.
She has a…a friend who lives on a ranch outside of town. She won’t
even discuss it. She refuses to involve anyone else. Something
about not wanting others to have to pay for her stupidity.”

He frowned at her.

“Her words. Look, I think she just needs some
rest.”

“I don’t like the idea of the two of you here
by yourself.”

“We’re not by ourselves. Freedom lives here
at the hotel. He’ll keep an eye out for Dority. If the snake comes
back, I think you’ve made it clear to Deputy Lewis that he better
not choose to look the other direction. I imagine,” she wrinkled up
her pretty nose, “if I need him, I can find him in the saloon.”

“That man is a disgrace,” John said.

“It makes it easier to understand why people
take the law into their own hands.”

“Hopefully Sheriff Armstrong will be back
soon. He’s a good man.”

“Hopefully,” she said, “Dority is long gone
and I won’t need any help.”

John thought about Suzanne’s bruises and her
broken nose. He looked at Sarah’s pretty face, her delicate
features. Fear gripped him, making it hard to breathe. “Promise
me,” he said, “that you won’t try to deal with Dority on your own.
Promise me,” he insisted.

He relaxed when she nodded. However, when she
walked over and brushed her sweet lips across his cheek, suddenly
there wasn’t a thing relaxed on his body. He forced his arms to
remain at his side.

“Thank you, John Beckett,” she said. She
reached her hand up and brushed his hair back from his face. He
made the mistake of breathing and her sweet scent filled his lungs.
Even after all the ugliness of the past hour, she smelled like the
flowers in his mother’s garden.

“Fred was right,” she said. “You’re a good
man. I’m sorry I ever doubted it. Goodnight.”

She turned and walked back inside the room.
John, feeling old and empty and weak in the knees, stood at the top
of the stairs. She was wrong. He wasn’t a good man. A good man did
not want to throw his sister-in-law in bed and bury himself deep
inside her. Good men didn’t have those thoughts, yet alone, the
burning need in their bodies.

***

“Sarah, wake up. Sarah.”

Sarah stretched, wishing she’d had the sense
to sleep lying on the floor rather than sitting up in the chair
next to the bed.

“What time is it?” Sarah asked, blinking her
eyes. Lord, she was tired.

“It’s a little after nine,” Suzanne said.
“You’ve been asleep for a couple hours. Church starts at ten and
Fred comes early so that the children can help their grandfather
get ready. Sometimes I watch from my window and wave to him.”
Suzanne’s eyes clouded with unshed tears. “I don’t want him to see
me like this. Promise me, Sarah. Promise me that you’ll keep him
away.”