The Sheriff’s Proposal

by Karen Rose Smith

  “Last night, before the square dance, he’d been drinking. He said he had things to do and couldn’t go with the rest of us. When I heard about the break-in, I was afraid he’d done it. But I didn’t know. I was hoping he’d show up at the dance. But he didn’t. Then he called me this morning and said he might not see me again for a while. He wouldn’t answer my questions about where he was last night. Just said he was stopping at Gibson’s, then taking off. I might be all wrong, but I think he needs money. Everybody knows old man Gibson keeps Saturday and Sunday’s deposits till Monday morning.”

  “Why didn’t you go to your dad?”

  “Because I don’t know where he is. He got in late last night and left a note for me this morning saying he had to talk to me but he was following up on a lead first. I didn’t want to alert the whole sheriff’s department. Maybe Kyle’s just going to buy stuff, and then I’d look like an idiot….”

  “Wait right here. I’ll tell Aunt Lily I’m going out for a bit. We’ll go warn Mr. Gibson, then find your father.”

  Chapter 14

  When Meg opened the door to Gibson’s Grocery and walked inside, she felt as if she’d traveled back in time. All those weeks ago. Costa Rica… She saw Olan Gibson’s face and remembered the panic, the terror, the nightmares. Before she could prevent Travis from coming in behind her, a voice came from her right.

  “Don’t move, or someone will get hurt.”

  She automatically went still.

  “Kyle, what the hell…?” Travis turned toward the voice.

  When Travis started for Kyle, Meg grabbed his hand and said, “Stop, Travis.”

  The teenager wore a ski mask and raised the gun in his hand. “Very good, Miss Dawson.”

  Travis moved toward his friend again. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

  Kyle raised the gun and shot at a row of canned goods at Travis’s left.

  Meg wanted to scream, but instead she caught Travis’s elbow and held him in place with every ounce of strength in her body.

  The sound of the shot had startled Travis, and he finally froze.

  She laid her hand protectively over her stomach. Somehow she had to protect her baby and Travis. Somehow she had to get them out of this. What she’d feared most had happened, and she hadn’t even gone back to work. One of life’s ironies. She needed a clear head. She had to take one step at a time.

  “What do you want, Kyle?” she asked calmly, although every nerve in her body trembled.

  He tore the ski mask from his head. “I wanted this to be nice and easy. I just wanted Gibson’s money, that’s all.”

  The teenager looked as if he’d been drinking. That could slow his reflexes, but also make him more volatile.

  “So, take it and go,” she suggested reasonably.

  He smirked. “Yeah, right. With all of you knowing who I am. I wouldn’t get a block.”

  “You won’t get a block anyway, not when my dad finds out what’s going on.” Anger emanated from Travis.

  “Travis, cool down,” Meg advised.

  “While someone who’s supposed to be my friend is holding a gun on me?” he snapped.

  “She’s right, MacDonald. You’d better pipe down till I figure out what to do.” He waved the gun at Olan. “Over here with them, old man. And don’t do anything you’re going to regret.”

  Logan was asking Kyle’s mother questions and listening to her problems when he got the call. His blood turned to ice as Cal gave him the specifics as he knew them. Meg, Travis and Olan Gibson were locked in the store with Kyle. Kyle had already fired a shot, and Logan didn’t want to think about what that could mean.

  He took off at a run and jumped into the sheriff’s cruiser. Then he took his gun and holster from the locked glove compartment and strapped it on. Chances were he was going to need it. Calling the rescue-squad dispatcher, he gave instructions for them to drive to the grocery store without sirens. In case someone had been hurt, he wanted them there. But he didn’t want to shake up Kyle or give him any reason to shoot again.

  As Logan switched on his flashing lights and sped to Main Street, he thought over his conversation with Kyle’s mother. A father who’d walked out. A mother trying to make ends meet for herself and three kids on a secretary’s salary. Kyle being frustrated by not having the things he saw other teenagers had.

  Last night, as Logan had interviewed witnesses concerning the second high-school break-in, he’d discovered someone had recognized Kyle running from the school. But Kyle had never returned home last night. Logan tried to will his heart to slow, tried to wipe the pictures from his mind of Travis or Meg wounded…or worse.

  Life could turn on a dime. Just last night, he’d asked Meg to marry him. Just last night, he’d hoped…

  He still had hope. He wouldn’t lose her or either of his children.

  A crowd had gathered outside the grocery store. Logan parked along the side of the building, rather than in the front. He could do this one of three ways. He could try to make contact with Kyle by phone and talk him into some kind of trade. He could surround the store in a SWAT-team-like maneuver and hope for a clear shot. He could use the back entrance of the store, go in and try to disarm Kyle himself.

  On-site, he instructed five of his deputies to surround the front of the store but to wait for further orders. Then he told Cal he intended to go in the rear entrance and asked him to cover him and act as a backup. Cal followed Logan inside.

  Guns drawn, Logan and Cal eased through the storeroom, careful not to make a sound. Logan stopped behind the swinging door and listened.

  “So tell me why you need the money, Kyle.”

  That was Meg’s sweet voice, calm without a quaver. Surely she was okay if she sounded like that.

  “I need to get out of here. To go to Richmond like Travis. There was practically nothing in that school last night. Change. Five bucks in petty cash at the secretary’s desk. Cripes, it wasn’t worth the commotion of getting in.”

  “I told you before, Kyle, Richmond’s no dream place. Even if you get a few hundred dollars, it won’t go far,” Travis warned.

  “You managed four months on a little bit of nothing. I’ll get a job,” Kyle argued.

  “You don’t have a high-school diploma,” Meg argued softly. “What kind of job are you going to get?”

  “Shut up,” Kyle yelled.

  The silence almost killed Logan. He edged closer to the window in the door and peered through.

  The teenager shook the gun at Meg. “I saw the sheriff kissing you. He’ll pay to get you out of here. Hell, if he could afford a private investigator for Travis here…”

  Logan watched Kyle swing the barrel of the gun near Meg’s chin. All he wanted to do was lunge out of that storeroom and take the kid down. But he knew better. At least, his head did. His heart was screaming for him to act. If anything happened to Travis or Meg… Lord, how he loved them both.

  Love…love…love.

  The word echoed, making his head spin and his heart pound even harder. Of course he loved her. That’s why he wanted to marry her. Couldn’t she see that? Couldn’t she see…

  He fought against the swell of feelings.

  Right now he needed to alert her to his presence.

  When he carefully checked the window again, Kyle’s back was to him. Logan stood at the small window, praying Meg would look beyond Kyle and see him. But all her attention was riveted on the teenager.

  He couldn’t make a sound. That would alert Kyle. But if he could make some small motion… He tested the swinging door. No sound. He pushed it a little farther. Still no sound. Now, if she would just look.

  Suddenly Meg lifted her chin a fraction of an inch. Her gaze went from the doorframe to Logan’s face at the window. Then she dropped her gaze again to Kyle’s gun.

  “Kyle, if you want money, then you’re going to have to do something about it. Why don’t we go over to the phone and call the sheriff’s office? If I could talk to Logan and tell him we’re al
l fine…”

  She was a sweetheart, all right, giving him the information he needed to hear most.

  “Why are you in such an all-fired hurry to help me?” Kyle exploded.

  “Because I’m afraid. And Travis and Mr. Gibson probably are, too. That gun’s dangerous, Kyle.”

  “Yeah, and I know how to use it.”

  “I can tell Logan that. I can tell him…” She stopped for a moment. “I can tell him you don’t want to hurt us, that you just want to get out.”

  Kyle looked confused. “I need a car.”

  “I can tell him that, too. In fact, you can tell him. But we have to go over there to the phone.”

  Logan caught on to what she was doing. She was putting their lives in his hands. To get to the phone, she and Kyle would have to pass the door. He’d have a split second to take Kyle down before he could hurt anyone. Meg trusted him that much. Yet she didn’t want to marry him.

  “C’mon, Kyle. Let’s get this over with. You don’t want to hurt us. I know you don’t,” Meg urged. Her soft voice, her wide brown eyes, her caring attitude, seemed to work on the teenager.

  “You’re not trying to trick me,” he said as if he was trying to convince himself.

  “No tricks. I don’t know any tricks, Kyle. But I do want to ask a favor. Why don’t you let Travis and Mr. Gibson leave? You don’t need them. You have me.”

  “You are trying to trick me.”

  “I’m staying with you,” Travis announced with the same protectiveness Logan felt.

  Meg was trying to get Gibson and Travis out of harm’s way. But it wasn’t working. Logan’s quick glance at Olan Gibson told him the older man was shell-shocked. He was probably afraid he’d do or say something that would make matters worse.

  “All of you are staying,” Kyle decided, waving the gun. “Gibson, Travis, you move and I shoot. You got it?” he demanded.

  Olan nodded, but Travis said between clenched teeth, “So help me, Kyle, if I ever get my hands on you…”

  “Yeah, well, you’re not going to, Travis. C’mon, Miss Dawson. I want five thousand dollars and a car. In an hour. A sheriff should have enough clout for that.”

  “You could just put down the gun, Kyle,” she suggested. “It would go a lot easier for you.”

  “Quit yakking. Let’s make the call.”

  Logan readied himself. All of his years in law enforcement, the rigors of keeping fit, the afternoons at the shooting range, his love for Meg, their unborn child and Travis, boiled down to this one moment. He wouldn’t have another. She’d done all she could as the intelligent, gutsy woman she was. Now he had to make this maneuver work or regret it the rest of his life.

  Meg passed the door first, as Logan knew she would. He caught a glimpse of her hair through the window. And then he listened and watched for a shadow…

  All at once, Kyle stepped in front of the door. Logan slammed it open into the teenager with the force of a tornado. A shot hit the wall.

  “Everyone on the floor,” Logan yelled.

  Then Logan pinned Kyle’s arms behind his back, and Cal was there, cuffing the teenager. Olan Gibson must have opened the front door, because the other deputies rushed in.

  Meg was sitting on Olan’s stool behind the counter, her face pale, her hands gripping the counter.

  As the deputies escorted Kyle out, Logan hurried to her. “Are you all right?”

  She looked up. “I’m fine. I…”

  “Dad!”

  Logan threw his arms around his son. “Are you all right?”

  He held on tight, thinking about how close he’d come to almost losing the two people he cared about the most in this world. Holding on was more important than breathing or talking or anything else.

  Finally Travis pulled away. “That was so cool, Dad. Did Meg know you were there? How did she…”

  When Logan looked over at Meg…she was gone! “Where did she go?”

  “I don’t know. She was here.”

  They both rushed outside and caught a glimpse of her in the front seat of someone’s car as it drove away. Logan’s heart pounded as it had when he’d stood behind the door. “She probably wanted to get home so Lily and Ned would know she’s all right.”

  “What’s going on with you two, Dad?”

  Logan took a deep breath, feeling as if he needed a few hundred more to slow his adrenaline. “Meg’s pregnant.”

  “Wow!”

  “Yeah, wow,” Logan repeated wryly.

  “Ya know, Dad, maybe you and I should have a discussion about the birds, the bees and condoms.”

  Logan could feel his cheeks flush. “Things got out of hand, we got caught up in the moment.”

  Travis grinned. “I think I’ve heard that stuff from a few guys I know.”

  “Look, I know I’m a lousy role model where this is concerned.”

  Travis’s grin faded. “What’s going to happen? I mean, you said you didn’t really love Mom when you asked her to marry you.”

  “I know. And at first I compared this situation to that one. But they’re very different. I was committed to your mother, Travis, and I cared about her deeply. But with Meg…I do love her. How would you feel if we got married?”

  “I like Meg. I think…we’re friends. It would even be kinda neat.”

  Logan slung his arm around his son’s shoulders. “Travis, I need to know exactly what happened last night and this morning, whatever you know about Kyle.”

  Travis looked up at his father. “You don’t think I was in cahoots with Kyle, do you? Because I wasn’t.”

  Logan knew his answer would shape their relationship for years to come. He looked into his son’s eyes, saw the truth there and said, “If you say you weren’t, I believe you. I just need you to fill in missing pieces if you can.”

  “You really believe me?”

  “Yes.”

  Travis relaxed. “I’ll tell you whatever I can.”

  As they walked to the car, Travis asked, “Dad, can you do anything for Kyle? He just wanted to get out of Willow Valley. I mean, I know what he did today was bad, but he’s not. Do you know what I mean?”

  Logan knew exactly what his son meant. If someone could have helped Kyle before he’d gotten this desperate… “I can’t make any promises. But I’ll try to get him some help. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  When Logan removed his arm from Travis’s shoulders, his son said, “You know, Dad, that’s the first time you’ve hugged me since I was twelve.”

  Logan’s chest tightened. “Then it was long overdue. And I’m warning you right now, it won’t be long till the next one.”

  Travis grimaced, but Logan watched the grimace change into a small smile. His son was finally home.

  Back at the farm, Meg knew she had run away again. She’d told herself she had to get home so her aunt and uncle could see she was safe and unharmed, even though she’d called them on the way on a borrowed cell phone. The truth was she’d needed time to get her thoughts together before she talked to Logan.

  She sat on the edge of the guest-room bed, watching Tomás sleep in his cradle, the cradle she’d once slept in. Family, friends and tradition meant so much. And the love that surrounded all of it…

  So much had become clear to her the moment her gaze had met Logan’s at Gibson’s Grocery. She’d risk her life for Travis and the baby she carried; she’d risk her life for Logan. No love could burn deeper than that.

  Logan had done his job this afternoon. Had it been more than his job? Had love shown them how to communicate, to make the split-second timing work? She wouldn’t know until she asked. She wouldn’t know until she found the courage to tell Logan she loved him and discovered how he felt in return.

  And if he didn’t love her?

  Her heart would break. But she’d also hold on to the hope that staying in Willow Valley, parenting their child together, would eventually give him the freedom to love. She’d stay here and love him. But she wouldn’t marry him unless he could
offer her more than a fulfillment of responsibility.

  Long ago she’d learned facing life’s challenges required courage. She had the courage to stay in Willow Valley and stop running from whatever Logan did feel for her. Maybe someday it would turn into love.

  The crunch of tires on gravel urged her to switch her gaze from Tomás to the window. Logan.

  Now all she had to do was find the courage to tell him she loved him.

  Still wearing his uniform, Logan sat on the swing on Lily’s front porch absently gazing at the Christmas decorations, waiting for Meg. Lily had said Meg was upstairs tucking Tomás in for his nap. Logan wanted to see the couple and their baby, but first he had to talk to the woman he loved and give her a symbol of that love, along with the words he should have said before now.

  His thoughts had been in turmoil since Meg had told him she was pregnant. He’d realized why today in the midst of the chaos. He loved her. The problem was—he hadn’t offered her love. He’d offered her passion, caring, marriage. But Meg had needed more. She’d needed his love.

  Suddenly this afternoon, with her life on the line, he’d figured out why she’d withdrawn from him when once she’d been so open. Essentially Meg’s parents had abandoned her. Although she was a warm, compassionate woman, she didn’t trust easily. Somehow, between the birth of Manuel and Carmen’s baby and Logan’s problems with Travis, she’d started to trust him. And hopefully love him. She’d never said it, and now he knew why. Her saying it would be the ultimate risk, a plea for her love to be returned.

  Not only had her parents abandoned her, but so had a man she’d loved. Once again work, rather than emotions, had been important. When Logan had met Meg, both their guards had slipped. Desire and feelings had become inseparable. When she’d told him she was pregnant, he’d thought he was doing the best thing by not pushing her, by not trapping her. Yet his silence and distance had given her another message that she’d again read as abandonment, and if not that, his lack of love.

  He could see it all so clearly now.

  The most important question was, had he blown his chances with the woman he loved?