Where the Heart Leads

by Jillian Hart

  “That’s sweet of you.” Aumaleigh pulled open the door, still a little dazed, touched by Gemma’s thoughtfulness. “Have a good day, dear.”

  “You too.” Gemma waved.

  Aumaleigh closed the door, standing on the boardwalk. The world rushed around her—horses clomped by on the road drawing wagons, shoes struck the boards as shoppers passed by. Kids across the street shouted, racing around with cookies in their hands from Dobson’s Bakery.

  But it was Gabriel she saw. Across the street, he untied his team of horses from the hitching post. Her pulse fluttered frantically, knocking against the backside of her ribs.

  He glanced up and spotted her. He fastened his gaze on hers with unexpected power, seeing everything, all of her to the depths of her soul.

  She saw him too—a good man, a good, good heart. A touch of loneliness, someone who always did the right thing. He climbed into his wagon seat with athletic ease. Raised a leather-gloved hand to her as he drove away.

  She stood mesmerized as his wagon rattled down the street and out of sight. There it was again, the powerful feeling, the soul-deep knowledge that he was the one. The one man she would love for the rest of her life.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Gramma Aumaleigh!” Sadie swung down from the tree in the front yard sporting a sheriff’s badge and hung from her knees by a branch. Her Stetson stayed on thanks to a band at her chin. “I didn’t know you were comin’!”

  “That’s me, full of surprises. How’s the county, Sheriff? Any bad men on the loose?” Aumaleigh gave Buttons a final pat at the hitching post. “I hear there’s all sorts of trouble.”

  “Yes, there is!” Sadie nodded vehemently, making her hat and braids bounce. “But it’s our job to hunt down trouble.”

  A second face appeared, swinging down from the tree. Evie had a Stetson too. “We’re tracking the Klemp brothers.”

  “Yeah, we’re gonna bring them down.” Sadie swung back and forth like a monkey. “Are there any cookies in there?”

  “You’ll have to wait until after dinner to find out.” Aumaleigh balanced the two bakery boxes in her arms. “Any luck with those Klemp brothers?”

  “Wait! I think I see somethin’!” Sadie pointed across the street in Mrs. McClellan’s yard.

  “Me, too!” Evie agreed. “Sheriff, I think it’s them!”

  “Let’s go!” Sadie landed on her feet, already running. “We’re bringing those rats in!”

  “Yeah, those rats!” Evie landed on her feet and dashed after Sadie. They ducked behind the white fence that protected Mrs. McClellan’s roses.

  “Aumaleigh!” The front door swung open and Iris stood in the doorway, radiant.

  Didn’t that say everything? Milo must be doing well. Iris, dear sweet Iris, had never looked so good.

  “I brought a little something for supper.” Aumaleigh clomped up the steps and handed over the boxes. “Here, take these, I have more in the buggy. Josslyn and I were far too industrious in the kitchen this morning.”

  “You’re spoiling me, Aumaleigh.”

  “That’s the idea.” She went to fetch the two dishes of food wrapped in towels on her buggy floor. “Now that I’ve started, don’t expect me to stop.”

  “We should be spoiling you. You don’t know how it felt being on our own in Chicago, and then to find out we had you. You’re going to stay for supper, right?”

  “I’d love to, but maybe another time. I have Annie and her family coming to my place for supper. Besides, you and Milo just got married. You don’t need me hanging around.”

  “Are you kidding? It’s always a treat to have you over. Mitsy loves you.”

  “Yes, I’m quite fond of Mitsy.” Aumaleigh tucked one dish in the crook of her arm and clutched the other. “Have you heard? Dobson’s Bakery is opening today.”

  “Yes, we’re having a meeting later, the five of us, to figure out what to do. We can’t let Fanny try to run us out of business.” Iris held the door open and closed it after Aumaleigh passed through. “You’re welcome to stay for that, but something tells me you’ve got other plans.”

  “Big plans. Lots to do.” Aumaleigh thought of the newspaper advertisement she’d just placed in town for a cook for the kitchen. Tomorrow, she would be seeing Nathaniel about the ranch. She headed straight for the kitchen, where Fluffy rushed up to bark a greeting and Sally could be seen in the back yard with her tiara and her sword, fighting imaginary dragons.

  “Maybe some of those big plans have to do with a certain handsome man new to town?” Iris slipped the boxes on the counter. She waggled her brows. “I heard about a romantic encounter in town.”

  “Not that old rumor again!”

  “Oh, no, this is an entirely new one. Mrs. McClellan saw it herself through the mercantile window. She said you and Gabriel looked rather enchanted with one another. Do you deny it?”

  “Adamantly. Honestly. Nosy Mrs. McClellan.” And then she was laughing, just laughing. She set both dishes on the counter. “Nothing is private in this town. It’s a disgrace.”

  “It’s life in a small town, in this town. It is rather nosy, but I like to think it’s because everyone cares.”

  “Yes, I think that’s true.” Everyone left a legacy behind. She had plans for hers. Life wasn’t what you had, it was the people who went with you on the journey. She had some pretty great company. Some of the best. “Is Milo resting?”

  “It’s killing him, but I’m making sure he does it. I’m standing over him like a prison guard. He’s upstairs napping right now, but it’s about time for me to go and check on him. That Milo is trouble.”

  “I’ve always thought so.” Laughing, Aumaleigh threaded her way through the house, retracing her steps. There would be many other times to come where she would stay, where she would visit and laugh and enjoy the Gray family’s company, but today she had a few more things to do.

  “What’s in the back seat of your buggy?” Iris asked, stepping out onto the porch. “I thought we’d moved all your things from your rooms in town. Did we miss something?”

  “No, these are from the kitchen house. I went through to make sure I’d gotten everything, only to discover there was more.” Aumaleigh’s heart felt heavy at the crates of old things she’d cleaned out. The last of the McPhee family things. “I’m in a spring cleaning mood. Out with the old, in with the new.”

  “Embrace change. I like it.” Iris opened her arms for a hug. “But one thing will never change.”

  “That’s right.” Aumaleigh squeezed Iris extra tight, holding her just a second longer. Love was the true treasure in this world, and she was wealthy with it. Her friends, her cowboys, her nieces and now her grand-nieces. She let go of Iris, warm of heart. “I’ll drop by tomorrow. I’ll have some big news to share.”

  “About Gabriel?” Iris waggled her brows again.

  “No. Honestly.” She was laughing as she climbed up and settled on her buggy seat, and she was hopeful.

  Junior had never been so tired in his life. All he wanted to do was sleep. It was shady and warm beneath the pines, soft in a bed of pine needles. A little scratchy, but he didn’t mind that too much. Considering the last place he’d taken a few moments of shut eye a snake had hissed, waking him up.

  “I ain’t sayin’ it again.” Giddy spun the chamber of his .45 to check his bullets. “Get up or I’m leavin’ you behind.”

  “I don’t wanna move, Giddy. I can’t go anymore.”

  “Do you wanna know what that possee’ll do to you? They’ll lynch you without a trial, and that’s after they beat you to a bloody mess. Cuz you killed a lawman.”

  “Me?” Junior sat up, bonking his head on a low-slung branch. A few pine needles fell onto him and he batted them off. One was a spider, and he batted that off too. “I didn’t do it. It was you and you know it. Don’t you try and blame me.”

  Giddy laughed. “Just jokin’ with ya. Now get up. Do you know where we are?”

  “No.” Warm breezes stirred the tr
ees on the hillside. His muscles ached and burned as he moved. They’d been running and running hard.

  All he wanted to do was rest. “I need more’n fifteen minutes of sleep, Giddy.”

  “Me too, but do you hear me bellyaching?” Giddy’s sneer was mean. Cunning. The same one he had when he stood over the sheriff and pointed his loaded gun at the injured man.

  “We’re here. Back at Bluebell.” Giddy fell to his knees, pulling himself along his belly over the rise of the hill. “Look at this view. There’s the sheriff’s house. He must be rotting in a grave by now.”

  Bluebell. Junior didn’t want to look. His stomach hurt something fierce thinking of Iris. Was she crying and heartbroken? He took a step back. “We should have kept running, Giddy. We should have taken that raft we made and escaped down the river.”

  “That’s what we wanted them to think, dummy. If Pa could hear you now, what would he think?” Giddy pulled Junior to his knees. “He’d disown you. He’d never want to see you again. Think of him penned up in that jail. He’s sittin’ there counting on us. Counting on you, Junior.”

  “I know.” He so wanted his pa to be able to count on him. When they were together, and Pa was free of jail, they’d be a real family, the way they never had a chance to. That mattered so much to him. He wanted it so bad.

  “That’s her old mare, for sure.” Giddy unsheathed a knife out of his belt and held it up to the light. The sharp edges glinted in the sun. “That old spinster and I have got a date.”

  Junior shivered. He crawled forward on his belly to get a better look over the rise. There, past the downward slope of the hillside lay the town. They were close enough to see kids playing in the street and Aumaleigh McPhee hugging a woman on the sheriff’s front lawn.

  Iris! Poor Iris. She must be hurting something fierce. He caught sight of her strawberry blond hair and then she was gone, stepping out of his line of sight. But her aunt—Aumaleigh—she reached out with a loving touch, probably patting Iris’s hand in comfort.

  “We don’t have time to waste. The minute we can get her alone, we’ll get the money out of her.” Giddy studied his knife’s sharp blade, as if he were imagining using it. As if he had done this before. “Then we can run. I’ll give you the job of holding her down.”

  “Holding her down?” Junior gulped. “Maybe you otta tell me how you get money out of someone?”

  “Just leave it to me.” Giddy sheathed his knife and pulled out his gun. “Maybe I’ll use this instead. I wonder which one she’s most afraid of.”

  In the town below, Aumaleigh waved and climbed into her buggy. She reined her old horse down the street, disappearing among the trees. Little girls ran into the yard. The sheriff’s daughters. Iris stepped out into the yard again, into the sunshine and knelt to take both girls into her arms.

  His eyes burned. He had to look away. First the sheriff, then her aunt. Iris seemed awful partial to her aunt. “You ain’t gonna really hurt her, are you, Giddy?”

  “She’s our first class ticket, Junior. Once we get the money, we can’t have her telling what happened. Those men will just come after us harder.” Giddy backed up, crawling until he was safely hidden. He stood, holstering his revolver. He wasn’t gonna stop when he was like this. He wanted blood—and he was gonna get it. “You ain’t gettin’ cold feet, are you?”

  “N-no.” Junior’s throat went dry. His knees shook because he didn’t want his brother to know that was a lie. He wasn’t a killer. He wouldn’t never hurt anyone that bad.

  And never Iris. He tried to see her again, but she was gone from the yard. Memory gripped him, and her face flashed into his mind. So pretty. In that alley that night, she hadn’t looked at him like he was despicable, like he was less than anybody else.

  No, she’d treated him the nicest that anyone ever had. That put a strange warmth in his chest.

  In his heart.

  The sun burned hot on her back. Aumaleigh reined Buttons along the road home. She’d squeezed a few more visits and errands into the afternoon, running much later than she’d planned. But Nathaniel had everything he needed to draw up the contract she wanted. Now she had the rest of the day to herself.

  What was left of it, anyway. The sun tilted low in the sky. It was a beautiful world. The wind whispered, rustling through the fields where buttercups and daisies bloomed. Birds sang with merry little chirps and melodies, and almost drown out the rhythmic, bam, bam, bam that grew louder as she turned onto her driveway.

  There, on the high slope of her house’s roof, crouched a man with a hammer, his Stetson at a jaunty angle. She’d know those sturdy, impressive shoulders anywhere, that line of arm and back, the steady calm radiating from him.

  Gabriel. Her palms went damp. Anticipation trilled through her. She forgot everything, just everything, drinking in the sight of him. He hitched up the brim of his Stetson and greeted her with a dimpled grin.

  “Hey, there.” He pulled off his work gloves, drawing her attention to his large, capable hands. “Here I was hoping you’d be a few minutes longer. I saw you coming from town, and I meant to get this done and be gone before you got here.”

  “What are you? A secret roof repairer? A stealthy handyman?” She hopped out of the buggy and landed in a patch of buttercups.

  “No. Just didn’t want you to know I was up here. Then you’d want to make me supper or something in payment, and all I wanted was to make sure you didn’t have a drip in your house when the next storm blows in.” He studied her so intently, as if he found her fascinating and beautiful and too captivating to look away from.

  Just like he used to.

  She melted. Utterly and completely. If only her heart would too.

  “Don’t you even think about fixing me supper for this.” He grabbed his hammer and deftly walked down her roof, like a man who was born to do it. “I know how you think, Aumaleigh. It was a few nails and a couple of shingles.”

  “I saw you buy those nails.”

  “True, but I’ll never miss them. I bought a whole bucket full.” He climbed down the ladder propped up against the porch roof.

  “Where did you get the shingles?” She arched a brow, trying to hide the tenderness rising up to shine like a summer sun at dawn. “I saw you parked at the lumberyard.”

  “I can’t deny it.” His boots touched the ground and he hefted the ladder over his shoulder, swinging it onto the back of his wagon. “When I was buying a load of fence posts, I picked up a few shingles for my roof.”

  “And mine.” She wanted to read something into that. Oh, she wanted it so badly. She wasn’t imagining the intensity in his gaze, was she? He had to know how she felt. Feeling vulnerable, she stared down at her hands, clasping them together.

  “What are a few nails and shingles between us?” He finished stowing the ladder. His grin was friendly, his stance relaxed, his voice easy-going.

  Afraid she was wrong, afraid she wanted this—him—too much, she didn’t dare look up. She did not want to see any casual look in his eyes.

  “Fine.” The word came out croaky. She cleared her throat, but the lump was still there.

  “I can’t promise Leigh won’t find an excuse to come over.” His boots thumped toward her. “I’m going to head out to join the deputies tonight. She’s never really been alone, especially in a new house.”

  “Why don’t you tell her to come over for supper?” Her voice sounded all wrong, thick with emotion, high with growing disappointment. She couldn’t meet his gaze. What if she saw no desire for her there? No tenderness? No love? She swallowed hard, fearing he could see everything. “I’m having Annie’s family over tonight too, but I’m sure they will love her. I have cupcakes.”

  “That’ll tempt her. I’ll pass the invitation on. Thanks, Aumaleigh.” He towered over her, and when he reached toward her, it was like the oxygen vanished from the air. He squeezed her hand for one brief moment, and it was like lightning striking.

  White, dazzling light bolted through her—pure and
life-changing. Like fate. Was he her destiny?

  Before she could gather her courage to face him, he’d let go and was striding away. Fear—old and new—beat through her. She listened to the clink of horse hooves carrying him away until there was only silence.

  Her heart throbbed like a wound. That’s when she realized something was sitting outside her front door. The warm breeze carried the scent of roses.

  Roses Gabriel had left for her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Roses. Aumaleigh kept looking at them. She’d found a vase, trimmed the stems and set them in water. Now they were scenting up her house, reminding her of Gabriel.

  Her chest tightened, aching. The contents of her hope chest were out—laundered, fully dried and folded up in a crate ready to go to Dottie’s. The leaky roof had done her a favor.

  She was finally ready to get rid of these things she’d once made with all her hopes and dreams. Her quilt was on top, folded neatly.

  We loved with a love that was more than love. She traced her fingertips along the embroidered quotes. Soul meets soul on lover’s lips.

  Could they love like that again?

  She lifted the quilt out of the box and draped it over the back of the couch, debating. Could she really give that away? Now she wasn’t sure. As she circled around the coffee table, Gabriel’s roses in the dining room caught her eye.

  Was this really a second chance for them? He had changed. She could see that. He’d become even more strong and reliable. But something kept her heart from opening. Guards were there. She was afraid to love him—when loving him was what she wanted most.

  She stared at the boxes. It was tempting to walk away, to lose herself in something that kept her from thinking. Or that kept her from facing whatever was in those boxes. But that wouldn’t get the boxes out of her house. It was time to clean up the last of her parent’s things. They were both gone and so were their human frailties.

  Winston! Winston, you come back here and look at me. Just look at me, would you? Mother’s voice, wracked with agony, echoed through Aumaleigh’s memory as she walked through the house, putting out lights. She’d been a little girl then, so concerned for her crying mother.