by Robin Deeter
Cy arched an eyebrow. “You knew? Did she tell you? Ellie?”
Rob buried his face in his hands. “Oh my God. Why did I hire such a dumbass?” He looked at Cy. “It’s right there in her eyes. Anytime I see the two of you together, I see it. If that woman was using you, she wouldn’t look at you like there’s no one else in the room. You need to talk to your wife if you don’t want to lose her. So what if she can’t have kids? There are plenty of kids in orphanages who need homes. Now, stop being a moron and patch things up. I’m tired of dealing with your cranky behind.”
Cy watched Rob leave and then threw a pencil at the wall in frustration. Pudge picked it up and brought it back to him, thinking that they were playing fetch. Cy smiled and took it from him.
“Do you think I’m a moron?”
Pudge sneezed emphatically.
Cy’s frowned deepened. “Even my dog is turning on me.”
* * *
Leigh sat at the kitchen table, going over some paperwork that evening when Cy got home. Queenie greeted him and the other dogs enthusiastically, but she barely looked at him. She was surprised when he sat down at the table.
“Leigh, I need you to tell me why you kept that a secret from me,” Cy said.
Leigh met his gaze. “I don’t want to talk about this. I have work to do.”
“Well, I do want to talk about it,” Cy said.
She nodded slowly. “So you want to discuss it when it’s convenient for you. I’ve tried a couple of times, but you just brushed me off. Why should I discuss anything with you? You’ll just accuse me of deceiving you again. You’ve been a detective for so long that you’re suspicious about everyone and have and a holier-than-thou attitude. I don’t have to take that.”
Cy said, “I deserve that. All of it. I should have tried to understand more instead of acting like a jerk. I think that you were in a tough situation and you were afraid that I’d reject you.”
“I was in a tough spot, but if you’d have rejected me, I’d have found a job somewhere and made my own way,” Leigh said. “The problem was that I liked you and your family so much that I didn’t want to have to leave again. I didn’t want to lose you, so I didn’t say anything. It was just easier to keep my mouth shut about it and hope for the best.
“You’re right, though. I should’ve told you before we got married. I’m sorry that I didn’t because I’ve always prided myself on being an honest person. But, in a way, I’m not sorry. At least I wasn’t. I fell in love with you, Cy, and I was hoping that you’d come to care for me enough so that when I did tell you, you would try to understand. I guess I was wrong about that, too.”
Cy knew when someone was playing him and trying to prey on his sympathy. Leigh was doing neither. Honesty filled her eyes as she met his gaze. Remorse for his callous treatment of her ran through him.
“Leigh, it’s not the fact that you can’t have children that upsets me. Sure, I’m disappointed, but I know that you are, too. It’s because I’ve come to care so much about you that it bothered me so much,” Cy said. “I’ve trusted you and told you things that I’ve never told anyone. I’ve talked to you about the things I feel and think. You already know that I don’t do that very much, but I did with you. It hurt to know that you couldn’t trust me to understand when I trusted in you so much. It wouldn’t have hurt so much if I didn’t love you, but I do.”
Leigh desperately tried not to cry, but tears blurred her vision. “You love me?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I do. I didn’t expect to find love any more than you did. You make me happier than I’ve ever been in my life. I’m sorry that I hurt you and accused you of using me. I don’t want to lose you. So I’m asking you to forgive me for being a jackass.”
Leigh’s heart sang with the knowledge that he loved her, but she couldn’t capitulate just yet. “Can you accept the fact that I’m not fertile? Are you going to end up resenting me because I can’t have children?”
Cy moved his chair closer and took one of her hands. “Leigh, I would love to have children with you, but if you can’t get pregnant, it won’t change my feelings for you. I promise. Besides, like Rob said to me today, there’s always adoption if we can’t have kids on our own.”
“You talked to Rob about this?” Leigh asked.
Cy made a face. “Yeah. Well, it started out with him complaining because I’ve been like a baby bear with a sore behind all week. Then he pried the problem out of me and made me see what an idiot I was being.”
Leigh could just imagine the conversation between Cy and his boss. Her taciturn husband must have been very upset indeed to discuss the situation with Rob.
“So he told you that you were a jackass?”
“Actually he called me a moron,” Cy said, smiling.
Leigh laughed. “I love that man.” Sobering, she said, “Cy, I’m really sorry that I didn’t tell you.”
“And I’m sorry that I flew off the handle about it,” Cy said.
Squeezing Cy’s hand, Leigh said, “How about neither of us hold anything back from now on and we try to listen to each other better? Does that sound like a good compromise?”
Cy drew her over onto his lap. “That sounds like a great compromise.”
Leigh caressed his face before kissing him. She’d missed him so much and her love for him flowed stronger for him as their lips touched. Cy growled and kissed her harder, feeling his ardor for his beautiful wife rise swiftly.
Pulling back from her, he said, “You know, we don’t know for certain that you can’t get pregnant. How about we just keep trying and hoping?”
She smiled into his eyes that held dark fire. “I like the way you think, Detective.”
Cy looked at the paperwork on the table. “Can you finish whatever that is tomorrow?”
She grinned. “Yeah.”
“Good, because I’d like to get right to the trying and hoping.”
With a laugh, Leigh said, “All right, but you have a lot to make up for.”
Cy had her stand up before he blew out the lantern. “Don’t worry. I’m ready to do penance.”
He took her hand and they walked upstairs together, their hearts filled with happiness and their minds full of hope for the future.
* * *
Cy sat up in bed when he heard pounding on the kitchen door. He yanked on a pair of pants as the dogs set up a racket. Cy grabbed his revolver and ran downstairs.
“Who is it?” he called through the door.
“It’s Daniel! Open up!”
Cy unlocked the door and opened it. “What the heck is going on?”
“You gotta come to the Chowhound,” Daniel said, a wild look in his eyes. “It’s Sly. He’s gone off the deep end.”
Cy asked, “What happened?”
“We went there to play some cards. I finally got Sly to leave the house for a change. We were in the middle of a game when some McDermott guy came in there all liquored up, pointing a gun at Mr. Branson. He was playing at another table. He started ranting and raving about some pictures Branson has and saying that he wants them back,” Daniel said.
A thrill ran through Cy that he’d been right about that, but his concern for Sly overrode any satisfaction he felt. “Go on.”
“McDermott yelled that it was Branson’s fault that Catherine was dead, that if he’d have just given up those pictures he wouldn’t have had to kill her,” Daniel said. “Sly went crazy. I tried to stop him, but he attacked McDermott from behind and dragged him back into one of the private rooms. Brock and Aaron are there, but Sly won’t come out. He hasn’t killed McDermott yet. At least I hope he hasn’t. You gotta come talk to him. He’ll listen to you. He always has.”
Cy nodded. “Let me just get a shirt on.”
He turned to find Leigh standing behind him with a shirt and his gun belt. Smiling tightly, he took them. Then he kissed her cheek.
“Thanks.”
“Be careful and help Sly,” she said.
Cy nodded and followed Daniel out th
e door.
* * *
The Chowhound was eerily quiet when Cy and Daniel walked in. Aaron had met them at the door. The sheriff’s department was there in full force, and he was keeping everyone out.
Rob said, “You better get Sly to cooperate or it’ll be a hard road for him.”
Cy nodded. He knew if Sly killed McDermott he’d hang or at the very least be thrown in prison for the rest of his life. “I’m gonna do my best. What room is he in, Daniel?”
“Second on the left.”
As he walked down the hallway between the private rooms, Cy prayed for the right words that would make his cousin see reason.
In Comanche, he said, “Sly, let him go and come out of there. I do not want to see you hanged. Catherine would not want you to do this.”
Sly paced back and forth in the whore’s room, glaring at McDermott, who sat on the floor propped up against the bed. His right cheek was bruised, and blood ran down his face from a cut on his forehead.
“He deserves to die!” Sly yelled. “He killed the woman I love, and he must pay!”
“He will pay, just not this way. His life is over. He will go to prison or hang. Let the judge decide. Please do not kill him. Think of your family. They love you and need you. They will be heartbroken if you do this. Do you want to hurt them the way you have been hurt?”
A groan of agony burst from Sly, and he punched the wall, bloodying his knuckles. He didn’t care. Nothing mattered without Catherine, the woman he’d wanted to marry and have children with.
“Sly, I know you. You like to fight and cause trouble, but you are not a killer. Do not give people more reasons to distrust and hate us. Let him go and come out, if not for your own sake, then for the sake of the people who love you.”
Hate and love battled in Sly’s heart as he raised the gun he’d take from McDermott and pointed it at his head. His hand shook as fury burned in his eyes. McDermott didn’t move. He didn’t know what the two men had said since they’d spoken in Comanche, but he could tell that the man outside the room was trying to convince Sly to surrender. He selfishly hoped that Sly would listen.
“Sly, please. For your family.”
Cy waited as complete silence fell, praying that Sly’s love and loyalty to his family would win out over his desire to avenge the murder of the woman he loved. After a few minutes, the door opened and Sly emerged, misery and rage reflected in his eyes. Wordlessly, he handed the gun to Cy and walked out to the barroom.
McDermott was still sitting on the floor, afraid to move in case Sly came back. He was immensely relieved when Cy walked in the room. Cy hauled him up, spun him around, and put handcuffs on him. He made them extra tight, and he wasn’t at all gentle with McDermott as he shoved him out of the room.
Cy looked for him, but Sly was gone. Looking at Rob, Cy lifted an eyebrow. Rob shook his head, and Cy knew that Rob didn’t want to press charges against Sly. Cy gave him a tight smile of thanks. Then he marched McDermott outside. Brock and Ellie pushed the crowd of onlookers back so that they could pass.
While Cy was happy that they’d caught Catherine’s killer, his heart ached for Sly. He didn’t know what he’d do if he ever lost Leigh like that. He’d want to kill the guilty party, too, and he wasn’t sure if he’d have Sly’s strength to walk away. His thoughts grim, Cy took McDermott to the office to begin interrogating him.
* * *
When he arrived home later that morning, Cy found Leigh in the barn, throwing hay down from the mow.
He said, “Hi, nananisuyake,” which meant beautiful.
She put her pitchfork down and descended the ladder. Coming to him, she put her arms around him. “Hi, handsome. I’m glad you’re in one piece.”
He held her close and sighed. “Me, too. I’ll always do my best to come home to you that way. I was able to convince Sly to let him go.”
“I know. Daniel stopped by to let us know. I feel so bad for Sly. I know what he’s going through, but it’s worse for him because of the way she died. I was angry enough over what happened to Walt, but if someone had killed him, I would’ve wanted to get revenge.”
Cy kissed her cheek, inhaling the scents of hay and horse on her. They were better than any perfume. “Me, too. Let’s hope that we never have to go through anything like that.”
Leigh nodded. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah. I could stand some food,” Cy said, cupping her face in his hands. “I love you, Mrs. Decker.”
Her smile went a long while in chasing away the stress and strain of the last several hours. “I love you, too.”
The kiss they shared was slow, gentle, and full of promise. Then, as they walked over to their home, they knew that whatever mysteries lie ahead for them, they would get through them together.
Epilogue
Under Leigh’s guidance, Sundance Ranch turned a small profit when their steer sold fairly well at the fall sale. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. They built a wood shop for Johnny, and he started receiving work orders. Leigh hadn’t felt such contentment in a long time. She once again had a husband and family she loved and they would be her anchor when life threw storms at her. Working the ranch and helping it prosper was also satisfying because it helped ensure a good future for her family.
Cy was proud of his wife for all the positive changes she had brought about on the ranch. However, the ones she’d brought to his heart and his outlook on life were the ones most precious to him. No matter how badly his day went at work, knowing that he had her to come home to bolstered him and helped him through the hard times. If he was her anchor than she was his refuge in a sea of uncertainty.
November brought more than cold temperatures to the land. To some it brought a bleak season that fit right in with the pain in their hearts while to others it brought excitement over the coming holidays. Could the season of hope and joy overcome sadness and despair, or would it bring nothing but painful reminders of happier times gone by? One never knew which way the winds of fate would blow because, after all, this was Chance City.
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