A gentle hand stroked across his shoulder, and he heard his mother’s soft voice.
“She’s special, honey. You’ve got to find a way to fix this, whatever it is.”
“I know. Like I told Pa, she’s not going anywhere, except home with her husband.” He pressed a kiss against her cheek before he sat back. Watching her sleep, his mind eased when it appeared to be a restful sleep instead of the fever-induced unconsciousness of the last several days.
“Looks like our prayers are being answered, Aaron.” He heard the tears in his mother’s voice and reached up to clasp the hand on his shoulder.
“Thankfully. Because I love her Ma and have never prayed for anything more in my life.” As they both looked on, Janelle’s mouth quirked in a hint of a smile as if she’d heard him, but still she slept on.
Chapter Twenty
“I can get into the tub by myself now, Aaron. I swear.”
“Don’t rob me of these simple pleasures, darlin’. I’ve enjoyed helping you bathe while you recover, and I’ll continue until you’ve regained all of your strength. You’re still weak and fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Just yesterday you dozed off during supper.” As he spoke, he pulled off her robe and held her arm as she stepped into the warm, suds-filled tub. “I won’t have you falling asleep in the water to drown, or getting dizzy and cracking your head open in a fall.”
“You’re just borrowing trouble, aren’t you husband?”
“Only around you, sweet pea, because trouble seems to be your middle name.”
She pouted prettily at his teasing and blew suds his way.
“Behave. Now lean forward and let me scrub your back.”
“You seem in a hurry.”
“I am. Judge Simpson is in town, and we’re heading in for Jessup’s trial.”
“Why didn’t you say so? I’ll just hurry, and we can go.”
“You, my darling wife, aren’t going anywhere, except back to bed for a nap.”
“But, Aaron, that’s not fair. I want to see him get what’s coming to him.” She hurriedly scrubbed her face, certain she could change his mind. “I hope Judge Simpson is a hanging judge.”
“I’m serious, Janelle. You are going to stay here with Ma. You’re still getting over pneumonia, and your feet aren’t quite healed yet. You still can’t get your shoes on.”
“But…”
“No, and I won’t hear anymore arguing, young lady.”
Janelle didn’t say a word after that. When he called her ‘young lady’ in that unyielding voice, she knew he meant business.
After scrubbing her back, he left her to finish. Moving to the sink, he filled a pitcher of warm water to rinse her long hair. Janelle eased back into the tub, her eyes following him around the room. He was graceful for a big man, and she liked to just sit and watch him move. In the two weeks since the cabin fire, they had spent a lot of time together. Although the entire Jackson family had pitched in while she’d been ill, Aaron had stayed by her side, caring for her and monitoring every minute of her recovery. It wasn’t until the last few days, when she was fever free and on the mend, that he left her care to others while he attended to business in town. Janelle spent most of that time with Letty. They talked about many things… intimate things.
One afternoon Letty had spoken candidly to her about her relationship with Henry, even the spanking part. Janelle asked if Aaron had put her up to it, but Letty had said it was actually Henry’s idea. Although both of their faces flamed to bright red, they discussed this intimate part of marriage openly. Janelle mostly listened, feeling oddly protective of Aaron’s privacy. This was his mother after all. Letty wasn’t graphic, although she spoke clearly about her feelings, especially early on. She said that she’d struggled with it at first, with Henry trying to exert his dominance over his young wife at every turn. She said she’d even run away once, arriving on her parent’s doorstep one evening after a particularly severe walloping with a razor strop.
“It was hard at first, honey. I had this image of what my marriage would be. Freedom to come and go as I pleased, running my own home, and making adult decisions. I figured that since Henry loved me, he would just kowtow to my wishes, however foolish they were. I still don’t know where I got the notion he was that kind of man.” She paused, staring off for a few moments, and Janelle could tell she was awash with memories.
“What did you do to earn a strapping, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“I was once just as headstrong as you are, honey. I got it in my head that I was going to town with or without Henry’s permission. Laramie was much more dangerous back then. Indian troubles were a daily affair, but I thought I could just run off on my horse and head to town. Fortunately, one of the hands saw me, told Henry, and he brought me back. We found out later that there was an Indian raid on a farm on the road to town. I could have been killed.”
“Oh, Letty, I imagine Henry was scared to death!”
“Yes, and very angry. After he was done hugging and kissing me, he bared my bottom and gave it a good strapping. He did it out of fear and love, honey. Do you understand? Fear for what my disobedience could have wrought and love so strong he spanked me, wanting to make sure I’d never do such a stupid thing ever again.”
“And she never did, Janelle.”
They both turned to see Henry and Aaron leaning against the doorjamb. Father and son looking on from identical stances—arms crossed, booted feet wide apart, both with affectionate smiles on their faces for their women.
“I never did. I have brains between my ears, not cotton.” Letty and Henry laughed, the affection and love evident between the older couple. Aaron and Janelle simply stared into each other’s eyes.
“I’ll just go see what I can fix for lunch. Henry, why don’t you come help.” Letty nodded her head at the younger pair, subtly trying to give them some privacy.
“Woman, I’m not dense. I know when to retreat from an awkward silence. I don’t have cotton between my ears either.”
“No, but with you, sometimes I think its oatmeal. You’re about as subtle as a cat in heat.” That made her laugh, and she raced from the room with a mockingly-severe Henry in pursuit, threatening to get his knife to cut a switch the whole while.
“They really love each other, don’t they?” Janelle said as she smiled fondly after the pair. They had turned out to be like a second set of parents to her, and she loved them both dearly.
“Yes, sweet pea.” Aaron moved into the room and shut the door for privacy. “They’ve been going strong for thirty-four years now. I want us to be the same way at their age.”
“I want that, too.”
“I’m glad, honey. Did you learn anything from Ma’s story?”
“Yes, but I think I knew most of it already. Even before we had our big fight over the switch.”
“So, why all the fuss? Did you think I’d really harm you with that switching? I earned quite a few punishments with a switch as a boy, and never once did Pa cut me or make me bleed. It stung like blazes and stuck with me for a day or two, but I learned never to repeat what caught me trouble in the first place. Pa reserved it for the most dangerous stunts that a boy can pull, of course. Diving off Dead Man’s Gorge being the worst, if I recall. After I recovered, he gave me a good whooping for scaring him and Ma half to death and for not using my head.”
“I think I understand what all three of you are trying to tell me, Aaron.”
“Good. I’d rather love you than spank you, sweet pea.”
“Me too. I love you.”
“I believe I love you more,” he teased.
“Janelle…” Aaron’s deep voice startled her out of her reflection. Looking up she saw him holding the large bath sheet in one hand. His other was outstretched, waiting to help her from the tub. “Doze off on me again, honey?”
Putting her wet hand in his strong palm, she let him pull her from her rapidly cooling bath. “No, just woolgathering.”
Nodding once, he began to effi
ciently dry her and help her into her clothes. While he was buttoning her up in back, he dipped his head and spread kisses along the skin exposed by the neckline of her new, lightweight dress. Although summer was drawing to a close and the nighttime temperatures were cooler, the days were still warm, and the heat-sensitive Janelle had insisted on short sleeves and open necklines. She was covered, but much cooler.
“I’d love to stay and nap with you, but I’m sure everyone is waiting.”
“Don’t they need me to testify or anything?”
“We’ve got witnesses and a confession. That will be enough to convince Judge Simpson to send Jessup off to the Territorial Prison for a good long time.”
Flipping her damp hair over her shoulder, she turned and frowned up at him. “What about Louise and Elvira Meyers? Do they just get off Scot-free?”
“What do they have to do with this? You never mentioned Louise and Elvira.”
“I’m certain I did.”
“No, Janelle. You didn’t.”
“Well, they paid him to kidnap me. I’m certain I told you this, Aaron.”
“No, Janelle, you did not. I’m certain I would have remembered that. Holy Christ!” Head flung back, he stared at the ceiling. Janelle noticed the hands on his hips were clenched hard into white knuckled fists.
“Are you counting to ten again, Aaron. Or is it one hundred this time?”
“What?”
“You do that when you’re irritated with me, or you rake your hands through your hair and rub your face and neck. You have a tell, husband, and should probably never play poker.”
He looked at her in silence, mouth agape and eyes wide. Finally, he recovered. “You’re remarkably observant, wife, and you’re correct. I was counting to ten. I had just passed twenty-seven when I remembered you have been feverish and confused and I would be a beast to hold your omission against you.”
“How kind of you, husband,” she replied with a giggle. For some reason, since her kidnapping and illness, he wasn’t nearly as intimidating. Maybe it was finding out that he loved her that had made the difference.
“I know you’re on the mend now that your sassy tongue has returned with a vengeance.”
“You love my sassy tongue, Aaron.”
A slow smile crossed his lips as he leaned in and quickly kissed her. “You’re right, sweet pea. I love your sassy tongue and every other naughty part of you.” He hugged her close, sweeping his hand down her back to her bottom, which he cupped in his large hands and squeezed firmly. After a moment, he sighed. Setting her back, he took her by the arm and ushered her out of the bathroom. “Now let’s go downstairs. You can tell us all about the Meyers’ plot at the same time.”
When Janelle had recovered enough to tell them all her harrowing tale, Aaron and his family had listened gape-jawed as she filled them in on the traumatic events in the cabin. Letty had smiled when her spunky daughter-in-law spoke of coshing the bigger man on the head. She was also the only one who had cheered enthusiastically when Janelle graphically told how she’d kicked him in the crotch, incapacitating him, only to bravely drag him from the burning cabin later.
Aaron had turned green when he’d heard about the knife and gun he could have used on her. The other men squirmed uncomfortably, groaning loudly and feeling a little sick when a kick to the balls was mentioned.
As the family gathered in the dining room to hear yet another one of her stories, Janelle felt sorry for Aaron. Ever since she had arrived, it had been one drama after another. He’d probably be happy to have a few boring days in a row. As Janelle told them about the malicious conspirators behind the kidnapping, they were again filled with shock and anger.
“I can’t believe that Elvira Meyers paid Jessup to kidnap and rape her,” Aaron said in amazement, as if speaking to himself. “Such vindictiveness and brutality in a woman is appalling.”
“She probably thought you should be just as miserable as Louise was after getting rejected by me and Heath. She thought having to marry a thief would do it, but when you and Janelle actually hit it off, she had to come up with a different diabolical plan,” Luke easily put into words the other’s suspicions.
Henry was outraged. “The conniving witch shouldn’t be allowed to live around decent folk.”
“I told you she was out for revenge against this family, but no one paid me any mind,” Letty said with a look that clearly said she thought all men were idiots. She sat beside Janelle and put a comforting arm around her shoulder. Janelle hugged her tight, and the men looked insulted. Janelle thought to herself that if she and Letty banded together, they might be able to drag these old-fashioned men kicking and screaming into at least the Neolithic period, thankfully leaving their Neanderthal behavior behind. Well… probably not, she thought with a smile, but a girl could dream.
The Jackson men left for the trial soon after, each lost in thought about how to bring retribution to the Meyers women for their crimes against Janelle.
* * *
“Can’t you arrest them? They’re a threat to public safety,” Henry asked as he pulled his horse alongside his youngest son. Aaron glanced at his father’s angry face, shadowed by his hat pulled low on his forehead, and could tell he was still fuming. He remembered watching his pa with Janelle after the wedding. He’d told her that she was a Jackson now and as such a daughter to him. To his pa, family meant everything, and he had engrained that into his sons. That meant they banded together, and none of them would rest until they saw justice done for Janelle. Aaron knew that and was glad he had these formidable men by his side.
Thinking aloud, Aaron began to develop his plan. “If we can get Jessup to admit that Elvira paid him and that Louise was the brains behind the plan, I can arrest them and bring charges of conspiracy to kidnapping, as well as aiding and abetting a perpetrator in the execution of a crime. But Judge Simpson isn’t going to send a fifty-year-old woman to prison.”
“She doesn’t know that. Maybe we can convince them to leave town. We could get someone to convince her that leaving would be better than the scandal it would cause if they were brought up on charges,” Heath offered, nodding toward their father, a sly look on his face when Aaron glanced at him.
Aaron grinned. As usual, his sly oldest brother was onto something.
“Someone calm, but aware of all the facts. Someone as smooth as silk,” Aaron teased.
“Yeah, someone slicker than snot on a glass doorknob, even,” Heath added, winking at him. All three looked at their Pa, who was totally oblivious to their plan.
Luke added, “I agree. It’s got to be someone who, like Janelle says, could charm the drawers off a nun.”
That had Henry’s head whipping around, and Aaron knew exactly what he saw—three sets of identical brown eyes trained on him.
“Oh no! Not me. That woman is the bride of Satan. Aaron, don’t you have a sheriff and some deputies you can send?”
“Bozeman’s out of town, and my deputies don’t have your wit or charisma, Pa.”
“She’s like Medusa. Her eyes will turn me to stone for sure.”
“Do it for Janelle, Pa,” Luke cajoled using some of his inherited charm and wit. “She needs you to help protect her.”
“Hmph, I’ll never make it out of there alive. What will you tell your mother?”
“That you braved the fire breathing she-dragon for sweet little Janelle. The daughter you always said you wanted.” Heath’s talent for bullshit came in handy sometimes and was the final pushed that their pa needed.
“Well, hell!”
They dipped their heads, hiding their knowing expressions below the brims of their hats. Although they’d employed unfair tactics, the end justified the means. Henry was undoubtedly picturing Janelle when they found her—lost, bruised, and afraid, lying cold and naked on the forest floor. His scowl deepened, and Aaron knew he’d been convinced.
“I’ll do it. But if I go to hell for killing the bitch, I’m holding you three responsible.”
The
three younger men agreed but spurred their mounts faster to cover their amusement. Like his sons, their pa was an easy mark for a pretty face and smile. Good thing Elvira Meyers was uglier than a westbound horse’s east end.
Chapter Twenty-One
Janelle was awakened by a commotion on the stairs. Looking at the clock, she saw it was 2:00 a.m. Aaron should have been back hours ago. She’d tried to wait up, but in her weakened condition she had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Slipping from her bed, she peeked out her door and saw Luke and Heath carrying someone up the steps. When they turned toward the guest room, she caught a glimpse of Aaron’s pain-wracked face.
“Heavenly day! What happened?”
Aaron answered. “Go back to bed, Janelle. We’ll fill you in tomorrow morning.”
As they proceeded down the hallway from her room, she protested, “Why are you being carried? And to the guestroom of all places?”
No one answered. Tired of being ignored she yelled, “Dammit! Someone tell me what’s wrong!”
Letty rushed up the stairs at that moment with an armload of towels and what looked like a 19th century first aid kit. “He’s been shot, Janelle. Doc’s on his way.”
“Oh my God! Well don’t take him in there, bring him to our bed where he’ll at least fit.”
The boys paused to look at Aaron, who shook his head. But Janelle saw this exchange and became livid.
“Don’t look at him! He’s injured and bleeding! You will bring him into our room, immediately! I am the only licensed health care professional in this household, so I’m calling the shots for a change.” When they still hesitated, she pointed to her room and said in her most authoritative Aaron-like voice. “Now! Don’t make me come over there and do it myself.”
Aaron shot her a pain filled smile. For a man who’d been shot, he seemed strangely amused.
Marshal's Law Page 20
