The Marshal Takes a Bride (22 page)

Six years later

E
than Wendell Scott IV pressed his compact little body closer to his big sister. “You gotta save me, Moll. I don’t wanna take no stinkin’ bath again this week.”

Those big round eyes and trembling lower lip reminded Molly of her own predicament six years ago. “Don’t worry. I have a plan.”

“That’s what you said the last time.”

“Well, this time it’s a good one.”

He nodded in satisfaction, grinning up at her with little-brother devotion. “I knew I could count on you.”

Molly grinned back. Ethan was her favorite little brother, even if he was her only little brother.

But, really, what’s not to love?
she thought. The little boy could spit as far as any of the Charity House orphans and twice as far as she could. In her book, that made him pretty special.

Trying her best to look stern, she glowered at the big
man looming closer and closer. She couldn’t help but think her dad got bigger and handsomer and kinder every year. One day she wanted to marry a man exactly like Trey Scott.

Not that she’d admit it now, when he’d turned into the stinkin’ enemy. She scooted her brother behind her, mutiny twisting in her heart. No one would stand in her way as she protected the boy.

“You can’t have him,” she warned. “I mean it.”

Stopping inches in front of them, Trey widened his stance, then settled into the standoff as though he had all the time in the world. “Hand him over.”

“Never.”

As they continued to stare at one another, Molly allowed a rebellious smile to lift the corners of her lips. A swift glimpse to her left revealed an opening in the hedge. Mentally, she measured the dimensions. The hole was the perfect size for a forty-pound boy and his eleven-year-old big sister.

“We’re getting out of here, Ethan,” she whispered from the corner of her mouth. “Just follow me.”

Inching across the grass, Molly tugged her little brother toward freedom.

The enemy matched them step for step.

Bending forward, Molly lowered her voice. “Looks like I’m going to have to take out Dad. You make a run for it on your own. ’Kay?”

“But what if Momma catches me?”

Molly winked at him. “Don’t worry about her. Her belly is too big, what with the baby almost here. She’ll never keep up with you if you pump your legs real fast.”

Chuckling, Trey pulled around to the left, effectively closing off their escape. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Stay back,” Molly ordered, pressing Ethan tighter against her. “I’m warning you…”

Trey glanced to his right, then let out what sounded like a regretful sigh. “Now you’re in for it. Here she comes.”

Molly threw her own gaze in the direction of their house. Her sister was bearing down fast.

Determined to remain focused, Molly leveled a look on Trey that she’d practiced in the mirror for nearly a year now. It was the same one Katherine gave the students at school when they wouldn’t listen to her. Molly just hoped it worked on U.S. marshals turned dads.

“I’m taking Ethan to the Charity House baseball game, and that’s the end of it,” Molly declared.

“Oh, no, it’s not,” Katherine said, drawing to a stop next to her husband.

Shifting her attention, Molly snarled at the woman who had become the best mother a girl could have—when she wasn’t trying to force the bath issue, of course. “I promise we’ll be home before dark.”

Katherine sighed, then shared a look with Trey.

He lifted a shoulder. “I tried to warn her,” he said, as though that was the end of his responsibility in the matter.

Molly grinned. Sometimes her dad could be such a man.

Shaking her head, Katherine turned back to Molly. “You two can go to Charity House after his bath. Not before.”

Ethan chose that moment to voice his opinion, by stomping his foot and declaring, “But I want to go now.”

Katherine snorted and then turned to Trey. “This is your fault, you know.”

He glanced to the heavens and sighed dramatically. “I
know, I know.” Wrapping his wife in his embrace, he shifted so the baby didn’t get in the way, then smiled down at her, affection glittering in his eyes. “It’s
all
my fault.”

Katherine smiled in return. “You know I can’t resist a man who admits when he’s wrong.”

“Oh, I was wrong.” He dipped his head toward hers. “I was
very
wrong.”

Molly snorted. “You two aren’t going to kiss, are you?”

They answered in tandem. “We certainly are.”

“Oh, honestly,” said Molly.

Ethan mimicked her, adding five-year-old enthusiasm to the words.
“Oh, honestly.”

Molly ruffled his hair. “Our parents are so strange.”

“Yeah, strange,” echoed Ethan.

Katherine pulled out of her husband’s arms and settled back into the fight. “Surrender, you two.”

Cornered and nearly out of ideas, Molly appealed to the man who’d defied her sister six years ago on her behalf. “Do something, will ya?”

Trey gave her a pitiful look. “Sorry, kitten, I’m going to have to agree with my wife this time.”

So be it.

“All right, Ethan,” Molly whispered in the little boy’s ear. “We’re going to make a run for it.”

A low whimper slipped from his lips. “But, Moll, they’ll catch us. They always do.”

Molly looked to the heavens, sighed. Little brothers were so unforgiving of a few big-sister mistakes. “Hold on tight, kid. I’ll show you what I mean.”

Balancing on the balls of her feet, Molly tucked Ethan firmly in the crook of her arm. Leading with her shoulder, she charged forward. With the element of surprise on her
side, she made it five whole steps without incident. But then she slipped and fell to her knees.

Next thing Molly knew, both she and Ethan were lying flat on their backs, a parent holding each of them down.

“Should we attack?” Trey asked Katherine, a look of sheer joy on his face.

Katherine’s answering chuckle floated through the afternoon breeze.
“Absolutely.”
She grinned down at Molly. “And this time we’re finishing them off.”

In a blur, fingers poised, then went swiftly to work. Ethan squealed in delight, enjoying their defeat entirely too much—the little traitor.

Molly Taylor Scott was made of sterner stuff. She clamped her lips shut, controlling the urge to laugh. “How many times have I told you,” she gritted through her teeth, “I’m not ticklish?”

Undaunted, hands worked quicker, fingers searched and jabbed unmercifully. And then, just like every other time, Ethan did the unthinkable. He joined the enemy.

“Surrender, Moll,” he said and started tickling her feet.

Molly bit down on her lower lip, but then someone went for her bottom left rib, and she couldn’t control herself any longer. Letting out a hoot of laughter, she said, “You got me. I surrender.”

Ethan jumped up, bounced around the yard, with his hands waving in the air. “We won, we won.”

Molly shook her head at him. “You are such a turncoat.”

Her voice belied the harshness of her words, holding all the affection she felt for her little brother. Even if he didn’t know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys, he was still a pretty good kid. Most of the time.

Just like Katherine always said, God had blessed them
all. But especially Molly. Her heavenly Father had given her the perfect family for her—a loving sister-turned-mother, a devoted, hardworking father and a feisty little brother, with another sibling on the way.

A day didn’t go by when she didn’t offer up thanks.

Thank You, Lord. Oh, thank You!

Her dad helped her stand, hugged her to him. “Cheer up, kitten. Even the best warriors lose a battle or two.”

Joining the embrace, Katherine squeezed in from behind. Little Ethan wasn’t to be left out. He hopped on his dad’s back, then grinned down at Molly over his shoulder. “You know, Moll, you were right about what you said this mornin’.”

Molly twisted so she could look into little-boy eyes. “I was?”

“Yeah.” He eyed his mother, then his father, then turned back to her. “We have the best parents in the whole world.”

She tightened her hold, secure in the midst of her family’s love. “We do, baby brother. Oh, we do.”

1. In the opening scene, Trey battles Katherine over Molly. Why do you think he fights so hard to protect the little girl from a seemingly harmless event in her life? Why do you think Katherine fights back just as fiercely?
   
2. For all intents and purposes, Katherine is a single mother. Why is she working so diligently to create a safe home for Molly and herself? Has she achieved her goal? Why or why not?
   
3. Why do you think Molly gravitates toward Trey and not the other adults in her life? Why do you think Trey gravitates toward Molly and Katherine?
   
4. Why do you think Katherine brings out Trey’s protective instincts? Why do you think he feels guilty over the fact that he is drawn to Katherine, even though his wife and unborn child have been dead for four years?
   
5. Katherine is afraid of Trey because of what happened to her two years ago. How does Trey add to her fear? How does he help her eventually overcome her fear?
   
6. Charity House provides a home for children the more respectable orphanages in the territory have turned away. As a result, do you believe it is easier or harder for the children to believe in the redemptive power of God? What impact do you think the Charity House adults have on the orphans’ faith?
   
7. Trey originally proposes to Katherine in order to protect her virtue. What does this reveal about his character? What does Katherine’s refusal reveal about her feelings over her own difficult past?
   
8. Trey accuses Katherine of using her Christianity as a shield. Is he right? Why do you think Katherine is afraid to take a chance on Trey? Are her reasons valid? Why or why not?
   
9. Trey has refused to walk inside a church ever since well-meaning Christians told him his wife’s death was part of God’s will for his life. Is that an understandable reaction on Trey’s part? What would you have said to him? How would you have said it?
   
10. Jesus calls Christians to a childlike faith. How does Molly exemplify such a trait? What is her impact on Trey and Katherine’s faith? In terms of your own faith, what have you learned from the children around you?
    
11. What is Katherine’s role in helping Trey let go of his drive for vengeance? How does she inspire him to show mercy to his enemy? What impact does that act of forgiveness have on them both?
    
12. What do you think Trey, Katherine and Molly have learned about love and family by the end of the book?
    

ISBN: 978-1-4268-2827-0

THE MARSHAL TAKES A BRIDE

Copyright © 2009 by Renee Halverson

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