“It’s okay.” Claire moved closer and gently squeezed Mary’s hands tighter, but her sister pulled them slowly away.
“I have grieved, Claire. But I don’t see the point in belaboring it. It doesn’t change the hurt, it doesn’t make anything better— and it won’t bring Mike back,” she finished with a whisper, got up from the table and walked to the sink, grasping it with both of her hands.
* * *
Her shoulders shook. It was the first time she’d given any space to talking about Mike, to allow his handsome face to visit her, to let her body feel how desperately it missed his touch. The pain threatened to overwhelm her. She wrapped her arms around her waist, closed her eyes, and willed her body to calm.
Her parents had been furious with her when she’d decided to study meditation with a Franciscan Monk who offered classes in Philadelphia two years ago—they were Christians after all. But little did they know how the many ways the skills he’d taught her had helped her over the last year since she’d come to Bareglen Creek.
It helped her deal with the pain of seeing children abandoned and alone—their only hope the Sisters and volunteers like herself who cared for them, and it was helping her now. The truth was—she couldn’t give space to grieving Mike. She didn’t know if she’d survive it.
Mary forced all thoughts to leave her mind. She forced the rhythm of her breathing and felt calm spreading over her body. She turned to face Claire. “I’m going out to the barn—”
When Claire tried to interrupt her, she simply held up her hand and breathed through the sadness that threatened to overwhelm her again. “I need to be alone.”
* * *
Claire’s chest constricted as Mary turned and walked through the door. She wanted to follow her, to help her, but she also had to respect her sister’s wishes to be alone. She frowned as a cacophony of thoughts raced through her head.
What would her mother do if they all decided to stay in Bareglen Creek? Could Claire persuade Mary to return to Philadelphia? Was that even her place? And what about Jim? When he healed, would he stay or return? Could Mary manage this farm alone? Would she be a widow for the rest of her life, unable to get past Mike’s death?
A lump grew in her throat. Maybe tea would help. She drew a long, steadying breath and rose to warm the water.
* * *
When Mary returned from the barn, Claire respected her quietness and made them all dinner. It had been a quiet affair, and they’d all decided to go to bed early.
But Claire was restless and couldn’t sleep. She didn’t want her tossing and turning to keep Mary awake, so she decided to try the meditation Mary had talked about.
Claire took a deep, cleansing breath and tried to clear her mind. Suddenly it was flooded.
How would she tell her mother and father that she wanted to stay in Texas now, too? What about Sully? Did he feel the same way toward her? What if he didn’t? What if he didn’t want a wife at all? Would she spend her life alone? A spinster?
She rolled her eyes. Clearly meditation was not going to work for her. Writing her thoughts out usually helped, but she couldn’t get up and risk waking Mary, so she decided to just lie there and let her mind wander.
She had never been one to settle, and once she knew something, she couldn’t ignore it. Couldn’t turn her back on it. She feared if the sheriff didn’t care for her, she would end up spending the rest of her life alone.
Her thoughts shifted. What would it be like to be the wife of a sheriff—never knowing from one moment to the next if he would come home safe at the end of a day? Could she live like that?
“God, why him?” she whispered quietly. “Why Sullivan Clarke? Why Texas? I don’t mean to be ungrateful, truly I don’t, but this is nothing like I thought my life would be. I had such big plans, and dreams. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of children, and our country. How does that fit into Bareglen Creek?”
She closed her eyes.
“I choose faith, Lord. I don’t know what the future holds—I can’t. I also can’t turn my back on what You’ve shown me. Help me to simply trust You. Forgive my unbelief—and Lord, please help Sullivan Clarke to fall in love with me,” she murmured before giving in to exhaustion.
Chapter 16
The Jail
Bareglen Creek, TX
A murmur rose among the men. The sheriff waited, watching. When they settled down he continued.
“I spent the morning with Mangus Nacogadche, and I asked Ranger Dudley to find the best Indian he knew to help us track the outlaws who nearly killed Jim, kidnapped John Barker and others, and have killed at least three that we know of.” The room remained silent.
“How many days have we been looking for these men, tracking them?” he asked. The room was silent. “I asked a question. How many days?” He looked every man in the room directly in the eye one by one.
“Three days, Sheriff,” a man named Harvey Benson replied.
The sheriff nodded. “And in those three days, have we been able to find more than a trace of them?”
“No sir,” Harvey added.
“Well, this morning Mangus Nacogadche found them in two hours.”
A low murmur of approval spread throughout the men.
He waited and let it sink in.
“Do we want to find and apprehend these men?”
A chorus of yeah! yes! and we do! came in reply.
“Do we want to do it with the element of surprise and as quickly as possible?”
The men agreed again, this time with more vehemence.
“Do you understand why I believe we need Mangus in order to do this?” He watched the reactions on the mens’ faces. Some were enthusiastic, and others seemed resigned. He could live with resigned.
Evan Dow stepped forward and turned to face everyone. “Men, we trust the sheriff, right? Well then, we need to trust him to do what’s best in capturing these robbers—these murderers. We’re gonna get John back, and we’re gonna make these men pay. Agreed?”
“Agreed!” rang out unanimously.
Evan stepped back with the men. When they settled down, the sheriff continued.
“This is dangerous, men. Potentially one of the most dangerous hunts we’ve been on together. A local Ranger unit should be arriving shortly.”
A few men grumbled in disapproval and the sheriff paused. “If any of you disagree with the choices I’ve made, you should leave now.”
Silence followed.
“This hunt is not about you, or me, or the Rangers—and it’s definitely not about who will get the credit. It’s about getting our man back. It’s about protecting our families, friends, and the people of Bareglen Creek.”
“Yeah!” shouted several of the men.
“It’s about keeping the people of Bareglen Creek and the surrounding communities safe. And it’s about stopping these men before they can rob one more train, or harm one more person. Am I perfectly clear?”
“Yes, Sheriff,” came the resounding reply.
“You’re either all in or you’re out. I won’t risk the lives of any man here, or the people we’re about to rescue, and it will take all of our skill and cooperation to pull this off.” He had their complete attention.
“The Rangers should arrive at any moment, led by Adra Dudley, and when they do, Mangus will meet us here in front of the jail. Adra will interpret for him, and we will follow exactly what he recommends to the letter.”
Every man nodded their approval.
“Go saddle up your horses, make sure your canteen is full, your guns loaded, and meet me back here in thirty minutes. Time is not our friend.”
As the men left, most nodded at the sheriff. These were good men—he just hoped they could put their bias and egos aside long enough to complete this hunt successfully and safely.
He heard horses draw up outside. He grabbed his gun, extra bullets, and flung a blanket over his shoulder. He didn’t care how long it would take to find these scoundrels and bring them to justice�
��he would do it if it killed him.
A large group of men stood around the smaller circle of men, giving them enough space while trying to stay close enough to catch their conversation. Mangus spoke with confidence, and Adra interpreted swiftly, pausing only when he had to come up with a way to translate a phrase that didn’t quite fit the English language. Mangus understood English fairly well, but there was no room for misinterpretation, and Ranger Dudley made sure they were all on the same page.
Adra had brought five additional Rangers with him, and if a few seemed disgruntled at the joint venture between the sheriff and their unit leader, they kept it to themselves. It was as though, everyone knew that the only turf war that existed today was the one between this group and the outlaws.
A disturbance to his left caught his eye. Jim Hawarden was standing with Evan Dow and Hank Adams. “I’ll be right back,” Sully said to Adra.
“Jim, what are you doing here?” he asked when he reached the men.
“I’m going to join the hunt.”
“No, you’re not. Where’s Doc Holloway?”
“I told him he couldn’t stop me. I’m going to help you get John back. It’s my fault that he’s missing.”
Sully turned to Jim so he stood squarely in front of him. “Jim, I appreciate where you’re coming from, I do. But you could be more of a liability than a help and no one here needs to be focused on making sure you’re all right. We need to concentrate on getting those men.”
Jim started to protest but Sully stopped him.
“I’ll tell you what. If the doctor agrees, we’ll drop you off at the farm on our way through and you can relieve Joseph Cane, who’s there guarding your sisters. You would be taking Joseph’s place, so he can join us. Do you think you can do that?”
“I can, Sheriff.”
“I need to finalize our plans, but we’ll stop by the Doc’s on our way out. I want to hear from him that you’re ready for this, and that’s not negotiable.”
Jim nodded and turned to cross the street.
Sully shook his head. The man was stubborn, not unlike his sister. One thing was for certain, he wanted to make sure Jim was capable of this, otherwise he would leave Joseph with the women. The thought of something happening to Claire was more than he could bear.
The meeting broke up and he made his way across to the doc’s office.
* * *
“You’re sure, Doc?” he asked, looking at Doc Holloway, but acknowledging Doc Jamison as well.
“I’m sure, Sheriff. He’s not one-hundred percent, and I wouldn’t allow him to join the posse by any means, but I feel confident he can manage things at the farm. As long as this band of outlaws doesn’t land there.”
A warning rang in the sheriff’s head, and he hesitated; Doc Holloway had just described the very thing he was most afraid of, he just hadn’t voiced it to himself or anyone else yet. The farm was closer to the hideout for the outlaws than the town was. It made him wonder if he shouldn’t suggest that the doctor join Jim at the farm—it would put the doc closer just in case they needed him. Anyone who was hurt would have less distance to travel—and it would be added protection for the women.
He made his decision. “Doc, let me run something by you…” He looked from Holloway to Jamison, then back to Holloway, whose intense blue eyes honed-in on his.
“Unless they’ve moved, the outlaws are camped about ten miles from here, approximately six miles from Mary’s farm.”
Acknowledgment registered in the doctor’s eyes—he knew where he was going with this. “I’m not sure this is right, so let me know what you think. If you, or you and Doc Jamison were to travel with us to Mary’s farm with some of your supplies… If someone were injured, you’d be closer to us at that location. We wouldn’t have to travel as far to get them to you.”
Holloway nodded.
“But you have to tell me if it’s feasible. Can you bring enough supplies with you, or would we endanger the men more by having you there without what you need?”
Holloway looked at Jamison. “Would you want both of us to go?” he asked as much to check in with Lee as with the sheriff.
Lee gave an affirmative nod.
“That’s up to you. Would you be better served with both of you there, or one remaining back here? I’ll leave that decision up to you. We leave in ten.”
Chapter 17
Mary’s Farm
Mary and Claire had just finished the morning chores with Joseph’s help.
Claire walked over to visit with the mare and have her usual morning stare-down with Colossal. She liked that name for him, it was fitting, and she rather thought he might be secretly proud of it as well. He was a male, after all. She giggled at the thought.
Mary chuckled as she watched her sister. She was wearing Mary’s other pair of chores pants—Claire looked good in them. And if she didn’t know better, she’d almost think her sister had lost her mind when it came to that longhorn and the morning staring contests the two of them shared.
Joseph’s yell abruptly brought her out of her reverie.
“Ladies, get in the house.” He ran toward the house to get his gun as a large dust cloud from the direction of the town drew closer.
Claire quickly ran toward Mary to help her close the barn door, then they ran for the house just as Joseph stepped back onto the porch with his rifle in hand.
“Get inside.” He was abrupt, but neither of them argued.
“Let’s go, Goliath,” Claire ushered him inside along with them.
Mary rolled her eyes. “Goliath belongs outside.”
“He wants to be with us, plus he’ll protect us,” Claire insisted.
“This will protect us,” Mary argued as she pulled a rifle down from the cabinet, “as will Deputy Joseph. And remember, this could all be for naught if it’s just Joseph’s replacement heading our way.”
“If he needs that many people to replace him, I think I’d rather he stay.”
Mary kept her comment to herself.
“It’s a large dust cloud, which indicates a group rather than one or two men. Maybe they’ve caught the outlaws and are riding here to tell us,” Mary said grimly, not holding out much hope.
“Do you have another gun? I can shoot,” asked Claire.
“You can shoot? When did you learn to shoot?”
“Edward taught me one weekend when I was visiting at his family’s ranch outside the city.”
“Were you skeet shooting by any chance, Claire? That’s not the same as shooting at a person. Not even close.” Mary rolled her eyes.
“I was good,” she insisted. “Better than Edward, actually.” She chuckled. “He wasn’t happy about it, either.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t.”
They both moved to the window, peering outside. Joseph rose from the chair he was hiding behind as the sheriff rode into view with a large group behind him—and Jim!
* * *
Claire couldn’t get through the door fast enough. She gave no thought to her disheveled appearance, or the pants she was wearing, until she realized all the men were staring as they reined in their horses.
She took two steps back under their scrutiny. Mary stood beside her and elbowed her sister, hissing out of the side of her mouth. “You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Claire squared her shoulders and ran to Jim as he dismounted. She flung her arms around him, stopping only when he groaned.
“You got away, huh?” she suggested, mischievously. “Way to go, big brother!”
She punched his arm, forgetting that they weren’t twelve and fourteen respectively.
Claire looked up at the sheriff who had a strange smile on his face, and then from behind him, a baritone voice dripping with amusement said, “Hello, Miss Hawarden.”
Claire stilled. Suddenly she felt like a kid who’d been caught in a candy store red-handed.
Sully’s gaze raked her, taking in every inch of her from her red hair, to her flaming cheeks…and be
yond.
He visibly swallowed like he was in pain, but certainly not from an injury.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded as she spun to face the voice. Hands on hips.
“Charming as usual, I see,” Doctor Holloway said as he dismounted, giving her another once-over from her head to her toes.
“Miss Hawarden, let’s all go inside shall we, and I’ll explain?” The sheriff handed his reins to Ranger Dudley.
Claire turned her head to look at the sheriff, and then turned back to the men—many still stared as though they’d never seen a woman in pants before. She narrowed her eyes at them one-by-one, turned, and marched into the house.
Jim, Doctor Holloway, Doctor Jamison, and three men carrying supplies followed.
Mary stood by the kitchen table, and Claire moved to stand just behind her. She wasn’t hiding behind her sister, it was more that this was Mary’s home, and she was the head of it.
The men removed their hats in respect.
“Miss Mary,” the sheriff addressed her, ignoring everyone else. “The outlaws are camped just about six miles from here, or they were, last we knew.”
The color drained from Mary’s face, and she took in a sharp breath.
“Jim insisted on joining us in their capture, but I implored him to consider coming here to relieve Joseph and protect you in his stead.”
“You understand what I’m saying?” he directed his question at Mary.
Mary nodded but Claire narrowed her eyes.
The sheriff simply gave her a warning look.
She didn’t back down, but she didn’t argue either.
“In light of the fact that your home is closer to the outlaws, and should someone require medical attention, I’m asking you if you would be willing to let the doctors stay here. They would be more readily available to us—if you’re willing.”
CHARMED Boxed Set 1, Hero Hearts Historical: Inspirational Western Romance Page 7
