The Rancher’s Second Chance Bride

by Maya Stirling

  "Take the first step. Tell him you forgive him for letting you go once. And I'm sure he'll forgive you for all those little things you've done since you returned," Pastor Joseph explained and smiled at her.

  "It's that simple?" she asked.

  "You'd be surprised at how powerful forgiveness can be."

  Honora stood, suddenly eager to be on her way. The pastor's advice had been more helpful than she could ever have hoped for. Hope had grown in her heart. She was glad she'd come to talk to him. She thanked him and promised to see him at church later in the morning.

  She left the house, got on the carriage and moved it across to the front of the church. Leaving it there, she walked up to the main street. She was eager to reflect on what the pastor had told her. Just as she turned the corner and stepped up onto the boardwalk, she almost collided with the last person she'd expected to see at this time of the morning.

  Honora halted and stared at Sophie Cameron. "Honora," Sophie exclaimed. "What are you doing so early in town?" she asked. Sophie glanced around. "Are you on your own?"

  Honora paused, reluctant to explain the reason for her visit. Then she realized that the truth was more important now than ever. "I came into town to speak to the pastor," she said.

  "The pastor?" Sophie asked.

  "I wanted to ask him a few questions," Honora explained. "It's been such a long time since I saw him, I thought I'd take the opportunity to catch up." Even as she said the words, Honora knew they sounded vague and evasive.

  Sophie frowned. "You're going to church, aren't you?"

  "I just thought I'd take some fresh air and walk for a while."

  Sophie shook her head and hooked her arm inside Honora's. "Nonsense. You're coming back to our house." She peered at Honora. "You look like you didn't have a breakfast, this morning. Am I right?"

  "I did leave early," Honora admitted slowly.

  "Right then," Sophie said turning and heading back in the direction from which she'd been coming. "Nathan is getting ready for church. And I'm sure you and him will have plenty to talk about while you're both enjoying a wholesome breakfast."

  Honora walked alongside Sophie and asked herself just what she'd gotten herself into. The pastor's advice was still ringing in Honora's ears. Honora knew she couldn't talk about Reese to Sophie and Nathan. She'd wait until she met with Reese before she did any of that, she told herself. But, the pastor's words had made Honora realize that she had one important task to perform today. She'd ask for Reese's forgiveness. And then she'd tell him she forgave him for all his deeds of the past.

  And then what would happen? Would Reese ask her to marry him? Or would that just put an end to everything once and for all?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  "Where is Honora?" Reese heard Mabel asking as he walked into the kitchen.

  Rufus looked up from the table. "One of the hands saw her leaving earlier."

  "Leaving?" Mabel shrieked. "How?"

  "He said she was driving a carriage," Rufus said.

  "How was she doing that?" Mabel asked sitting down quickly at the table opposite her husband. "With her arm in a sling, and all. How can she be so reckless?"

  "You know Honora," Reese said evenly. "If she wants to do something, ain't no-one going to stop her." Reese held onto the piece of paper and thought about when would be the right moment to let Mabel and Rufus know about it. They were both pretty upset and confused. He didn't want to make things worse.

  "She must have been going into town," Rufus suggested.

  "This early? She knows we were all going to church today."

  Reese realized this was his chance. "About that, Mabel," he said holding up the small sheet of paper with Honora's handwriting on it. "This was slipped under my door. I found it when I woke up. Honora must have left it."

  "What does it say?" Mabel asked abruptly.

  Reese squinted at the neat handwriting. "She tells us all not to worry about her. That she had to go into town, and that she'll see us all at the church this morning." Reese looked up. "That's just about all it says," he added.

  Reese declined to mention that Honora had underlined the word "all". She had definitely included him in that statement. That meant only one thing, as far as Reese was concerned. Honora was expecting to see Reese at the church today. He felt anticipation at that prospect.

  Mabel folded her arms and frowned. "That girl has sure got her mother's high spirits in her."

  Reese saw Rufus smile and shake his head. He tapped Rufus on the shoulder. Rufus looked up at Reese. "Can I have a word with you?" Reese asked Rufus.

  Mabel's eyes narrowed, and then she went back to attending to breakfast. Reese walked out to the yard and Rufus followed close behind. Both men walked slowly, side by side.

  "I went into town, last night," Reese said to Rufus. "I went to see Sheriff Nathan."

  Rufus paused and lifted a brow. "You did? Did you talk to him about Calhoun?"

  . "More than that. I told Nathan about the crooked card games going on over at the saloon. Seems like he's known about it a while. Just never had the evidence he needed to do anything about it." Reese peered at Rufus. "Now that you're the latest victim, Nathan decided enough was enough."

  Rufus' eyes widened. "What did he do?"

  Reese smiled. "He employed his latest deputy to go and get more evidence."

  "You?"

  "I went over to the saloon and got an invite into the back room."

  Rufus grunted. "That's where it all happens. The games out in the main saloon are just a front."

  "I know that," Reese said. "Seems like the prospect of getting their hands on Buchanan money made me a prime target."

  "What happened?"

  "I got me the invite and sat down at the table. It didn't take me long to find out what was going on."

  Reese thought about the men who'd been sitting around the table at the card game. He'd sat down at the table in the semi-darkness of the back room. The place stank of beer and tobacco. There had been a real feeling of danger, but Reese knew what had been arranged with the sheriff. He'd stuck to the plan.

  Reese had played card games when he'd been younger. But, in recent years, he'd steered well away from the saloons. Just like all his brothers. Their father had long ago warned his sons of the perils of gambling, and the advice had stuck.

  "What did you see?" Rufus asked.

  "One of those jaspers has a system for marking cards. Him and his pals are in cahoots," Reese said.

  "Did they take any money off you?"

  Reese shook his head. "I didn't hang around long enough for that to happen. But, it didn't take long for the man in charge of the game to realize something wasn't right."

  "What did he do?"

  Reese smiled. "He got real angry. At me. Accused me of cheating." Reese laughed. "Can you believe that?"

  Rufus shook his head and frowned. "I don't even want to think about that."

  "Anyway, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, the head jasper was reaching for metal."

  Rufus gasped. "He pulled on you?"

  Reese shrugged. "Almost. Right at that moment, Nathan came in, flashing his badge." Reese grinned. "And pointing his own gun at the cheat. That calmed things down, pronto," Reese concluded.

  "That was a close call," Rufus said worriedly.

  "Yeah. But it had to be done," Reese replied. "We got the evidence we needed. The marked cards were right there on the table. And with me as a witness, that was all Nathan needed to order the place shut down."

  Rufus smiled broadly. "It's closed down?"

  "It sure is. And Calhoun was none too pleased. He turned up just as we were starting to board up the saloon windows." Reese smiled. "Nathan had those boards stored just specially in case they came in handy."

  "What did Calhoun say?"

  "He tried to claim he knew nothing about what was going on in the back room," Reese said and scoffed. "He fired the bartender. Just to make it look like it was his fault."

&nbs
p; "Is Nathan going to press charges against Calhoun?"

  Reese sighed heavily. "That's the only disappointment of the whole evening. We can only press charges against the man with the marked cards. It's the only thing I saw. It would have been different if Calhoun had been sitting at the table. But, he's too smart to do anything like that."

  Rufus grunted noisily. "Calhoun gets his way again," he snapped.

  Reese could see the frustration in Rufus's eyes. Reese had felt exactly the same last night. When he and Nathan had dragged the card cheats over to the jail, the two men had been too willing to confess their guilt. They looked like they'd been schooled in what to say to the law if they were ever caught. All the men were currently keeping one of the cells in the jailhouse warm.

  Reese rested a hand on Rufus' shoulder. "The good news is that, because of the criminal activity going on there, all outstanding debts are cancelled. For you and everyone else."

  Rufus gasped and his brows rose in straight line. He smiled broadly at Reese and grasped Reese's arm. "Are you sure?" Rufus exclaimed.

  "I'm sure, Rufus," Reese replied. "You don't owe Calhoun a cent. And there's nothing he can do about it. If he did try, then he'd open himself up to investigation. And he ain't about to do that."

  Rufus hugged Reese enthusiastically. Reese felt the man shake with emotion. Then Rufus leaned back and gazed up at Reese. "I don't know how to thank you, Reese," Rufus exclaimed.

  "You don't need to say anything, Rufus," Reese replied. "It was something I had to do."

  "You know what this means?" Rufus said. He gazed around at the ranch buildings. "I have a future again. I've been given a second chance."

  Rufus glanced up at the sky. For a moment Reese was sure Rufus was about to drop to his knees and give thanks. Rufus grasped Reese's arms. "I'm going to church today with a special purpose in mind," he declared. "I have to thank Him for this. God has forgiven me my foolishness," Rufus said, his eyes beginning to moisten. "You know that, don't you, Reese."

  "He sure has, Rufus," Reese agreed.

  Rufus' breathing was fast with excitement. "You've made me a happy man, Reese."

  "Nathan had something to do with that, too," Reese suggested.

  "I'll thank him when I see him at church."

  "I guess this might be the end of those unwanted visitors we've been getting on the ranch," Reese said.

  "I think you're right," Rufus replied. "If Calhoun was behind it, then I'm willing to bet he's going to give up any hope of getting his hands on this ranch." Rufus thought for a moment. "That means you'll be going back to the Buchanan ranch."

  "I guess it does."

  Right now, with all of Rufus' excitement taking his attention, Reese didn't want to say what he felt about the prospect of being separated from Honora. He'd become real close to her these past few days. Now that he had no reason to stay, he'd have to find other ways to spend time with her. That was if she even wanted him around. He felt that an episode in his life was drawing to a close. He wasn't sure what the future held. Maybe he'd get a chance to ask her when he saw her at church.

  Because, one thing was sure. Reese needed to speak to Honora. Urgently. He had one thing to tell her.

  And, the only place he'd be able to do that would be this morning at the church.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Honora was sitting at the breakfast table in the Cameron house when Nathan started talking about how he and Reese had closed down the saloon last night. She dropped her fork down onto the plate and stared across the table at Nathan.

  "You and Reese were at the saloon, last night?" she asked incredulously.

  "Reese came to the jailhouse and told me about a crooked card game going on over there. I've known about it for a while, but I didn't have any evidence." Nathan glanced at Sophie who was sitting next to him. "Reese offered to get me that evidence."

  Honora gasped. "He went there all on his own?"

  "He volunteered," Nathan said. He gave Honora a look. "You know what he's like once he gets the notion to do something good. No-one can stop him." Honora thought that sounded familiar.

  Nathan shook his head. "We had a plan. I wasn't far away while he was in there. It didn't take Reese long to find out the cards were marked. And then I stepped in and cleared the whole thing up."

  "Was Reese in any danger?" Honora asked breathlessly.

  Nathan shoved a piece of sausage into his mouth and chewed on it for a moment before replying. Honora was impatient for his answer. The thought of Reese being in danger in a filthy barroom filled her with dread.

  "Reese can handle himself," Nathan stated. "Although, when I entered the room, one of them had drawn his gun and was pointing it at Reese."

  Honora shrieked and Sophie dug her elbow into Nathan's side. He yelled and gave her a puzzled look. Sophie reached out and laid a hand on Honora's arm. "Don't worry, Honora. Reese is fine," Sophie said and then glared at Nathan. "Isn't he?" she added.

  Apparently oblivious of the real reasons why Honora was so worked up about the story he was telling, Nathan frowned and continued. "He's okay. He helped me get the criminals to the jailhouse." Nathan lifted and brow and smiled at Honora. "Still being a deputy, that's one of his jobs, you understand."

  Honora felt like she wanted to race from the kitchen, grab her bag and run to the church to try and find Reese. She wanted to hear about all of this from him. But, she restrained the urge to go running off. She'd promised to accompany Sophie and Nathan to the church. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost time to leave.

  "Then Reese and I boarded up the saloon," Nathan explained, his mouth full of food. Maybe for Nathan, all of this was routine, Honora told herself. But every detail triggered a fresh way of worry in her.

  "Calhoun turned up," Nathan said. "He wasn't too happy about things. Pretended he didn't know about the crooked game in the saloon." Nathan lifted his brows. "Which he owns," he added emphatically. "I don't believe that for one minute. But, there's nothing I can do. At least we got the game closed down. And any poor critter who owed money can sleep easy. All outstanding debts have been wiped clean, seeing as how they came from crooked activity." Nathan appeared satisfied with his explanation of last night's work.

  So, Reese had left the ranch last night and had come into town, Honora reflected. That explained why he'd needed to sleep later this morning. He must have been tired after doing all that with Nathan. But, the prospect that Reese might have come to serious harm sent chills up Honora's spine. She hadn't even known he'd left the ranch in the middle of the night. Why hadn't he told her what he was planning on doing? Maybe he hadn't wanted to worry her. Or perhaps he wanted to avoid an awkward conversation if she'd asked him not to put himself in danger. She wondered why he had done it. And how he had found out about what had been going on at the saloon.

  Worry still made her feel unsettled. She finished what was left of her breakfast. Nathan took a while longer, but eventually they were all ready to leave. Sophie had put on a plain brown gown which was elegant and tasteful. Nathan wore what Honora supposed was his best suit. And, of course, he made sure his badge was worn on the waistcoat beneath his jacket.