They arrived at the sheriff’s office in what seemed like no time at all. Joey slipped his little hand into James’ as they walked up the steps to the little building where they often spent their days.
James glanced down at him, an ache in his heart. What was going to happen when Joey’s family claimed him?
Maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe his mother was right. But James wasn’t naïve. There had to be someone who cared for the child, someone who loved him and was missing him.
“Hey! It’s the little sheriff,” Merrick let out with a holler as the two came into the little jailhouse.
“Find any bootleggers or criminals on the way over? Because you’re several hours late.”
“Don’t even start,” James said with a playful glare.
“Tell me, Joey. What is it that James does that makes it so he can’t get up early in the morning?” Daniel chuckled, ignoring James’ warnings.
“I dunno. Maybe because we play checkers late.” Joey grinned up at James.
“Is that so? And who wins these late-night checkers games?” Merrick asked. “I’m sure it can’t be James, he’s terrible at games. I don’t think he’s ever beat me once.”
“I win sometimes.” Joey puffed his chest out proudly, grinning.
“Well, I am sure you do! You’re the smartest little boy I’ve ever met,” Merrick assured Joey. “You know what? Why don’t you go into the supply room and bring out the checkers game we keep in there, and we’ll give it a go?”
“Really?” Joey beamed.
“Absolutely!”
Without waiting another moment, Joey raced off to the supply room.
“What was that about?” James asked, skeptical of Merrick’s motives.
“Actually, there was a telegram for you at the post office. I figured you’d want to read it as soon as possible.” Merrick extended a small piece of paper to James, who took it solemnly. His heart filled with dread.
He didn’t have to ask to know where it was from or what it said inside. It was most likely an answer about the boy.
James was tempted to tear the paper up into little pieces and forget he’d ever seen it. But then he wouldn’t know, and the only thing worse than knowing something terrible was about to happen was being blindsided by it.
He ripped the paper open and read the telegram, his heart sinking lower with every word.
To whom it may concern,
My name is Lyla Smith and I will be coming to retrieve my nephew. I will take the next available stagecoach. I expect the journey will take between three and four weeks. Thank you.
James read the words five times before the truth settled over him. They were coming. This Lyla person, the boy’s aunt, was coming to take Joey away.
James threw himself down into his chair and let out a shaky sigh.
“Aren’t you happy?” Merrick asked in a low voice. “Didn’t you want someone to take the boy off your hands?”
James glanced over to where Daniel had intercepted Joey and they were setting up the game of checkers.
“I-of course, I’m glad he has family,” James muttered, pushing the crumpled the paper into his jacket pocket.
“You’ve taking a liking to him, haven’t you?” Merrick sounded more sympathetic than accusatory.
“We all have, I suppose. But no helping it. The boy’s got family, and he should be with this Lyla, whoever she is.” James shrugged and picked up the newspaper, wishing he had never sent an announcement about the accident.
Even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew it was wrong. He had no right to Joey; he didn’t deserve the time he’d already had with the boy and he certainly wasn’t about to keep him from his rightful family.
“So, when you gonna tell the boy?” Merrick hopped off the desk and turned to go and join Joey, who was waiting for him to follow through with the promise of playing checkers.
“I’ll take him fishing this afternoon and tell him then. At least he’ll know it’s coming.”
“Poor boy,” Merrick shook his head. “He’s come to like living around here. I don’t suppose it’ll be easy for him, going to live with an aunt he’s never met.”
“He’ll adjust. Children are resilient.” James tried not to think about the words he was saying.
There was no point in thinking about what might have been or how hard it would be for them both. There was no way to change the way things ought to be. The only thing they could do now was accept it and deal with it the best they could.
---*---
“Are we really going fishing?” Joey was bouncing about James as if he were a puppy who couldn’t remember when he was out on his last walk.
James laughed and tousled the boy’s blonde hair. “Of course, we’re going fishing.”
He smiled, handing Joey a fishing rod before picking up the rest of their things as they headed off.
“Wait!” Bonnie came rushing after them with a pail in her hand. “Don’t forget your lunch.”
She glanced sadly at Joey as she handed over the pail, with their lunch packed lovingly inside.
James had taken the time to tell his mother about the telegram and the woman named Lyla, who was coming for Joey soon.
Bonnie had been just as devastated as James. She had hidden her feelings, but James was sure that she would take a moment to grieve once he and the boy had left the house.
Joey was going on and on about the first time he had fished and how he was most certainly going to get a bigger fish than James, but James was unable to concentrate on or even hear half of what the child was saying.
His mind was too busy going over different ways he could tell Joey about what was going to happen. The boy wasn’t going to take it well.
Joey had stopped asking about his parents after James had explained various times that they had gone to live in heaven and were watching over him from there.
James knew that Joey missed them, but he had gotten used to living with James and Bonnie and seemed to enjoy life with them on the ranch.
They had even talked about allowing him to start attending classes in the schoolhouse, once harvesting season was over.
James heaved a breath of sadness; there would be no point to that now. Images of a future that might have been filled James’ mind, and by the time they got to the fishing hole, he was so depressed that it took him a moment to realize why he was there.
They set up a spot and James helped Joey put a worm on his hook. After they’d cast his line, Joey sat down beside James and held his pole between his two little hands as if it were the most important thing in the world.
“Joey? I have to tell you something,” James said softly, breaking the silence between them.
“Really? Me, too.”
“You have to tell me something?” James felt a genuine curiosity fill him. “What do you want to tell me?”
“I just want you to know that I know how Ma and Pa are watching over me now.”
Confused, James tilted his head. “How’s that?”
“They must have sent you to find me so that you could take care of me and they could see me. I’m glad I’m here, where they can see me, and that I won’t have to go anywhere far away.”
A lump formed in James’s throat. “Oh.” He wasn’t able to think of anything else to say.
“James?” Joey looked up at him with a sparkle in his eye.
“Do you think that Ma and Pa will come back one day and visit me?”
James shook his head. “I don’t reckon so, but you’ll see them again someday.”
“Really? When?” Joey looked excited, as if his father might come out of one of the bushes.
“I’m not sure when, but you’ll understand when you’re older.” James didn’t know how else to explain it to Joey.
“How much older? Like you?”
“Yes, Joey. When you are as old as me, you’ll understand.” James swished his fishing rod back and forth, trying to attract a bite.
Suddenly, Joey’s rod began to da
nce, suggesting a fish had grabbed onto his bait.
“I’ve got one! I’ve got one! What do I do?”
“Here, hold on tight! I’ll help you.” James got behind Joey and wrapped his hands over the boy’s.
“It’s a big one! Don’t let it get away from you! Here, we have to reel him in, a little at a time,” James yelled. He helped Joey pull up as he reeled in the line, then let the pole down again to give the fish a little room to swim out. They repeated the motion until the fish was in sight, thrashing at the top of the water.
“It’s coming! We got a big one!” Joey echoed James while he pulled with all of his little might.
Soon, they managed to pull their catch onto shore. It was a skinny little fish, the length of James’s hand, but Joey didn’t seem to care. It seemed to him to be the biggest fish in the world.
He beamed as James helped him pull it off the hook and thread it onto their string of fish, which had been empty before Joey’s catch.
“We’re going to eat well tonight, that’s for sure.” James chuckled. “You’ve just caught us some nice dinner.”
They sat down on the bank and kept fishing for the rest of the day. By the time dusk rolled around, they had eight fish hanging on their string. Most of them were of a size that James would have normally thrown back, but he wasn’t about to disappoint Joey.
They walked back towards the ranch, swinging their pails with their line full of fish while whistling a song together.
Joey’s whistling abilities were impressive for a seven-year-old, and James learned that his father had taught him when he was only five.
When they reached the cabin, Joey ran ahead and slipped into the house before James could even ask him where he was going.
By the time James made it into the warm cabin, Joey was already telling Bonnie all about their adventure.
“It’s the biggest one on that line, I promise,” Joey declared with pride. “And it was the first fish we caught, too, wasn’t it, James?” he added enthusiastically.
“Let me see this huge fish,” James’s mother said with sparkling eyes.
James held it up, pointing to it, and she gasped in delight. “Why, Joey, I do believe you’re right! You are certainly the most skilled fisherman I have ever seen. I am going to fry that fish up for dinner and we’ll have a feast.”
Joey couldn’t contain his glee and grinned from ear to ear while Bonnie set about preparing the fish.
James walked over to join her and she looked at him sideways, sadness in her eyes. “How did he take it?”
James groaned inwardly. In all their fun fishing, he’d completely forgotten to tell the boy about Lyla.
He glanced over to where Joey was setting the table for dinner.
“I didn’t tell him. Maybe it’s best if we just wait and see what happens.”
James could tell that his mother disapproved of his decision, but he couldn’t make himself do it.
Things would be bad enough for Joey when Lyla came. There was no need to make it worse before then.
Chapter 8
Lyla tucked her hands underneath her shawl and kept up a brisk pace. Keith was nearby behind her, still trying to get her to change her mind.
Despite all the reasons that she would have loved to reconsider going off to retrieve Joey from the west, she knew she couldn’t. She had promised herself already that she would do this for her sister, and Lyla wasn’t one to go back on promises.
“I still don’t understand why you have to go. I could send someone. Do you realize what this is going to look like to everyone?” Keith pleaded, taking Lyla’s hand in his.
Lyla fought the urge to pull her hand away. “I’ve already explained my reasons, and I won’t be changing my mind. Joey is my responsibility, and I must see to it that he makes it to where he belongs.”
“If we were married, I would not allow this.” Keith shook his head back and forth and gave her a slight glare, which surprised Lyla. She wondered what his words really meant.
Would she be allowed to go anywhere once she had become Keith’s wife? Somehow, she was beginning to doubt it.
She watched over her fiancé’s shoulder as one of his hired men put her small satchel into the stagecoach that was waiting for its passengers to board.
“If I don’t get on this stagecoach, I won’t be able to get back in time for our wedding.” This time, Lyla pulled her hand gently from Keith’s grasp and gave him a pat on the arm. “I’ll be back before you even realize it. Please, try to understand.”
Keith shrugged and looked away with a pouty expression, then hurriedly pulled her into an uncomfortable embrace. “I understand, darling, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Lyla stepped away as soon as Keith released his tight hold and, with a little wave, she boarded the coach.
Keith stood at the platform, watching her. He didn’t move, wave, or smile. He just stared. He had an angry, brooding expression and Lyla felt a warning feeling growing inside her. She knew that he didn’t like not being in control, and she also knew that right now, she was making him feel the most out of control anyone had for ages.
After what seemed like hours, an older woman with a little boy and a young man all boarded the stagecoach, filling it to capacity. A few seconds later, the coach began to move and they were off.
Lyla knew the journey would be long, but she already felt anxious about arriving. What was she going to do when she got there?
What would Joey be like? The last time she’d seen him, he had been a tiny baby. Lyla pinched the inside of her palm as she remembered the day Joey had been born.
It was a past she kept buried at all costs. Her sister’s kind and loving face leapt into her mind, and she let herself think of the last time she had seen her sister alive.
“Will you write?” Lyla pulled Mary into her arms and squeezed her sister to her until it felt as if she couldn’t breathe.
“Nobody could keep me from writing you, Lyla.” Her sister paused and glanced around, as if checking to make sure that no one could hear their words. “Lyla, are you sure this is what you want? I could still talk to Henry. You don’t have to stay here alone.”
Lyla glanced down at her boots to keep Mary from seeing her tears. “I’m not alone, I have Ma and Pa and this whole town of people to keep me company. You know why I want this.”
Mary nodded. “I can understand why you would feel this way, but I think you’re wrong. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
Lyla shook her head and looked into Mary’s eyes, her tears blurring her vision. “It does have to be this way, I can’t bear…you know. I just can’t do it.”
Lyla didn’t want to explain once more the pain that had driven her to this decision. Mary knew why she had chosen this, and she had to know Lyla wasn’t going to be changing her mind.
“Do you want to see him one more time? He’s grown, you know.” Mary nodded in Henry’s direction. Mary’s husband was cradling the little bundle that was now Lyla’s nephew.
“No, that’s okay. Thanks for offering, though.”
A Treasure Brought by Fate: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 6
