by Angie Dicken
“This is Sheriff Thompson. From Amarillo, Texas.”
Aubrey heard Cort release a long breath. “Amarillo is a long way to go with your sister’s horse.”
Ben’s nostrils flared. He took an abrupt step with his good leg. “I needed to make things right.”
“What are you talking about, Ben?” Aubrey’s voice broke. Ben looked more like her father than ever before. His sneer. His beady eyes squinting to hold in all the conniving a Huxley was capable of.
The sheriff raised a hand. “Cort Stanton, you are under arrest.” He pulled out handcuffs.
“Officer, you’ve got it wrong.” Aubrey stepped closer. “He’s not the man you are looking for. His brother—”
Ben bellowed, “I said you can’t trust this man, Aubrey.” He spit at the ground just as the rain began to pour. “Not only did he cripple me, he’s wanted all over the state of Texas.”
Aubrey flashed a look at Cort. His face wore the same broken expression as when Cassandra had hurled hurtful words at him. Why didn’t he speak up for himself?
“He’s wanted for murder, sis. You’ve been harboring a murderer.”
Aubrey stumbled backward, the rain sliding down her face. “Murder?” She didn’t know the crime was that serious.
“That’s right, Aubrey. Shocking, but true,” Ben said.
Did she just foil her plea of his innocence? “No, I just didn’t know what the crime was, but it’s true that Cort is not the convict.” She ran up to the sheriff, who only shook her away. “Please, sir, he’s not the Stanton you want.”
“His face is all over the state, ma’am. Perhaps he’s convinced you, but that don’t mean he’s innocent.” The sheriff yanked him along toward his horse. Cort craned his neck around to speak, but Ben interrupted.
“I didn’t know how dangerous he really was until I saw a poster down south.” Ben reached out to her. “I tried to protect you, Aubrey. You’re my only sister. But you refused to listen to me.”
“You hush, Ben. Even if you were trying to protect me, there’s more to it than that, isn’t there? You did this because you wanted revenge and, perhaps, money. If you were concerned about me, you would have stayed.”
As the sheriff walked away with Cort, Aubrey could only sob into her hand.
She dared not believe that Cort had lied to her. And she was certain that the man she’d almost given her heart to was not a killer. The Stanton name might carry much shame, but Cort had proved there was at least one Stanton who was honorable and just. The Stanton name meant something different on the Oklahoma Strip than it did in Texas.
Aubrey had wanted it for herself.
* * *
“Wait!” Cort tried to wrestle his arm away from the man’s grip. “Aubrey, please. I’ve told you the truth.” He tried to turn to her again, but the sheriff kicked him in the back of the knee. He yelped with pain.
“There’s no explaining necessary.” The sheriff tightened his grip. “I’ve been around Amarillo long enough to know all about you. Bought yourself some time escaping that jail fire.” He yanked Cort’s arm closer and spoke through gritted teeth. “You best be quiet, Mr. Stanton. Or else this could get ugly real fast.”
The rain was loud and booming. When Cort had a chance to look back at Aubrey, she was gone.
His ride to town with Sheriff Thompson was a miserable one as they cut through sheets of rain and a nipping wind. He didn’t have much time to think, but he found the chance to pray. He begged God for a second chance, actually a third or fourth. But mostly, he prayed that this would all end quickly, because he couldn’t bear the thought of life trapped in a prison cell knowing that Aubrey was somewhere without him.
Regret overwhelmed him, and his shoulders sagged with the weight of his coat from the pelting rain. If only he’d told her the truth about his brother from the very beginning, then she’d have known all along. Did she still believe him now?
As they came up to Alva’s Main Street, the sheriff steered his horse to the inn where Cort had bought a room for Cassandra and Trevor that morning. The rain subsided to a drizzle and he was lugged off the horse by the sheriff.
“We are heading to Texas first thing in the morning. For now, I am going to catch a wink. It’s been a long three days.” They entered the bottom level of the new building. There was a small saloon with a hotel desk to one side. The sheriff situated Cort between himself and the stairwell while he arranged for a room with the desk clerk. Cort looked about the area, trying to ignore the stares. He caught the attention of one particularly blonde gal and her son.
Trevor’s eyes grew big as he ran across the room. “Uncle Cort!”
“Hi there, son.” A wave of emotion filled him. He was staring into the freckled face of his own brother as a child. Back then, their biggest iniquities had been damming up their own creek and laughing at the fleeing fish. Nothing like the trouble that found them as they grew. With an absent mother, the only guides they had were their own boyish desires and the footsteps of a lawbreaking pa. How he wished that Trevor would at least have the chance to find an honorable man he could model his behavior after, a noble male influence. It seemed everything was spiraling into the sinkhole of a pitiful heritage.
“Cort Stanton.” Cassandra approached, decked out in that blue dress that enlivened her long-lashed eyes. “I guess I’ll not benefit from your reward money after all.” She gave an exaggerated pout as she eyed his handcuffs. “How in the world did you find him, Sheriff Thompson?”
The sheriff leaned on his elbow, admiring Cassandra with a lopsided grin. “Oh, Mrs. Stanton, seems your brother-in-law was quick to make enemies up here. Found their way down south and turned him in.”
“Cassandra, please.” Desperation soaked Cort’s words more than the rain saturated his jacket. “You know the truth about me.” He held out his sore wrists. “About this.”
She turned her nose up.
“Cass! You aren’t getting the money. Besides, I know you. Your heart’s bigger than that. Come on.” He relied on Aubrey’s reasoning that his own sister-in-law couldn’t go through with such vengeance.
She tucked her bottom lip back in and searched his eyes. Her nostrils flared. She leaned into him, yanking him by his collar and pressing her cheek against his. Her lips grazed his ear as she whispered, “This would all go away if you’ll come to San Antonio with me. You promise to marry me, and I’ll set you free.”
Cort jerked his head back. “Blackmail, sister?”
“All these years, I’ve learned a thing or two from you Stanton boys.” She snickered, her teeth resting on her lip as her devious eyes devoured him.
“Would you want to marry a man that didn’t love you?”
“It’s only a matter of time, Cort. Those old flames can’t be too hard to kindle.” She stepped back and planted her hands on her hips. “So, what do you say?”
“Even if I agreed to this, the sheriff will need more than your word. It’s useless.”
Cassandra took her fan and tapped it on her chin. “Well, there’s the rub. But what if I do have more?”
“I’d need a witness,” the sheriff interjected.
Cort shook his head. “There are none.”
Cassandra studied him with a glint in her eye as if she knew something more. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. Aubrey stormed through the door, soaking from head to toe, with a wild look that reminded him of the day she’d nearly lost all one hundred and sixty acres.
“Cort Stanton, I need to talk to you.”
* * *
Aubrey was flustered after galloping across the prairie. She had tried to talk herself into forgetting Cort and moving on with her plan. But there was one thing that stopped her. When Ben argued that he’d done the right thing as they dried themselves off in her soddie, she heard Cort yelling to her throu
gh the rain. Ben nearly tackled her as she tried to get to him.
“He’s not the man you thought, Aubrey.” He stared down at her.
“He told me he was innocent. Don’t you think he’s proved to be trustworthy, Ben?”
“But I heard it that night they were by the fire. He didn’t argue about it not being true.”
She looked hard at Ben, examining each feature—his long cheeks, dimpled chin and that glint of conceit in his eyes. She loved her brother, but trusting him was a whole different story.
“You didn’t stick around long enough to find out. Cort’s integrity has never failed. Why would it now? I’ve got to go to him.”
Now she stood in a puddle on the newly waxed floors, wordless, in front of a small Texan audience.
“Aubrey, I’m so glad to see you.” Cort tried to step forward but the sheriff barricaded him with an outstretched arm. “You believe I’m innocent, don’t you?”
Aubrey stepped forward, her heart beating double-time. She cared too much for this man whose trouble was far greater than she’d imagined.
Cort’s nostrils flared. He narrowed his eyes in Cassandra’s direction. “You’re holding something back. Aren’t you?”
Cassandra just cocked her head, nibbling her lip.
The sheriff interjected. “As far as the state of Texas is concerned, Mr. Stanton, you are guilty and awaiting your sentence. Like I said, you need a witness, and I am sure these women don’t know anyone who’d be affiliated with such a dire circumstance.”
Cort curled his lips. “All of that is true, except the guilty part. I did not kill that man. It was my brother.” He shot a pleading look to his sister-in-law then back at Aubrey. It was the same look she’d seen at the chuck wagon dinner when that land surveyor appeared. “Aubrey, remember what my old boss used to tell me? To always step up and admit when I’m wrong? It’s a safeguard for future mistakes.”
She could only nod. She remembered. It was when he had apologized to her, before their first kiss.
“I admit it. I was wrong to keep this from you all this time. You know that I have done some rotten things in the past, but my life changed the moment I found God back in Wyoming. So much manipulation had gone on during the caravan back to Texas that I allowed my guilt to trick me into taking the heat off my brother. He had a family and a chance to change. I had nothing but time. So I gave my time away with a plea that wasn’t mine.”
Her eyes flooded with tears as she hung on to his every word. “I believe you, Cort.” The blubbering declaration escaped her lips as tears streamed down her face. “You’ve not given me one reason to not believe you.” These past months had built up this man to be strong and noble and trustworthy.
“I’d never lie to you, Aubrey.” His green pools flashed with determination. “I tried to save my brother that day, not take the life of a stranger.”
A smile forced its way to her lips. “That sounds just like the man who’d give up a whole chunk of land to a desperate gal.” He narrowed his eyes at her, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
A hero through and through.
The only trigger he’d pulled was in her heart, and she’d never be the same.
The man behind the counter called over to the sheriff.
“Cort, time is running out,” Cassandra said, eyeing the back of the sheriff as she spoke. “My offer still stands. And I promise, I can follow through with my end and offer up exactly what Thompson wants.”
Cort’s brows knit together as he cast a confused look at Cassandra. “What do you mean?”
She cackled. “You first. I need you to hold up to your end first.”
The sheriff spun around with keys jingling in his hand. “If you’ll excuse us, ladies.” He stepped in between them and took Cort by the arm. “I need to sleep before we head south.”
Cassandra plucked Cort’s chin, sending a shiver down Aubrey’s spine. “Well, darling, what do you say?”
Cort, with his soaked hat and cuffed hands, turned his face toward Aubrey. All the hopelessness he’d conveyed over the past months weighed down his countenance. She ground her heels into the wood floor for fear she’d try to push away Cassandra and the sheriff and spend the rest of her life loving him into hope again.
“You are a good man, Cort Stanton,” Aubrey said. “No matter your past or what the law says, I believe you are one of the best men I know.” Could her words speak away his hopelessness?
For a brief moment, light filled his eyes and he squared his shoulders. But a dark shadow fell on him when he muttered, “Remember me that way.” Then he turned to Cassandra and said, “I don’t know what you are up to, but my life is at your mercy if what you say is true.” He turned up the stairs and the sheriff stepped behind him, pushing him out of sight.
Was that the last she’d see of Cort Stanton?
The tall blonde woman twirled her skirt around and clicked her tongue. “What a shame.” Her nose was red as if she had cried, but her eyes were dry as the prairie dust.
“What did you say to him, Cassandra?” Aubrey put her hands on her hips, trying to appear strong. Her fingers trembled and she felt like she would retch.
Cassandra narrowed her eyes to thin cobalt slits. “Why should I tell you anything? It’s because of you that he won’t come back to Texas with me.”
“Because of me? That’s not true and you know it.”
“He just declined to marry me in exchange for his freedom. I daresay it’s because of your little speech. You talked him out of living.”
“What?” Aubrey reached for a chair and crumpled into it.
“That man’s in love with you. I offered him a chance to be free.” She lifted her nose. A tiny crinkle revealed possible remorse. “With the chance to marry me.”
“You gave him an ultimatum?” Aubrey had told Cort that his sister-in-law wouldn’t follow through with her threat. What decent person would do such a thing? But now she was confessing that she had the ability to free him and wouldn’t do it? “What could you possibly do to set him free?”
Cassandra began to fan herself, rolling her eyes.
“You’re bluffing, aren’t you?” Aubrey would get it out of her. “Cort said he told you that he’s innocent. But our word is nothing against the Texas law.” The magnitude of an empty life without Cort suddenly crept in on all sides of her. Was he really leaving? Now, when she’d realized how much good he’d brought in her life? “I just don’t see how you can be so hateful to him.”
“I’ve got a long history with Cort and Charles,” Cassandra said, pulling a chair out and sitting across from Aubrey. Her face was chiseled like a statue. No emotion, no regret. Cool as stone. “I never wanted Charles. Practically threw myself at Cort during our growing up. He never seemed to care. And the thing is, he didn’t have another woman. What’s wrong with me?” Her stoicism cracked as her eyes swam with tears. She shook her head. “So, because of his stubborn pride, I chose Charles. And look at the mess he’s caused. Going and getting killed when he has a wife and child to care for.”
“I am very sorry.” She was ready to let a man die because of old heartache? Aubrey pushed away judgment, though. Hadn’t she said good riddance to Pa because of old hurt? She didn’t want him dead, but she allowed herself to stew in her own heartache. She folded her lips together and prayed for forgiveness for both of them.
“Charles had one chance to change his ways, and he didn’t take it. When I found out he was spared for that murder along the trail home, I could hardly see past my anger to mourn properly.”
Mourn properly? Did she find out before Cort told her? “When did you find out that Charles was guilty?”
Cassandra just flicked her curls and swiveled around. “You are nosy, aren’t you? I suggest you find yourself another cowboy to build your ranch. Cort Stanton doesn’t deserve as mu
ch as a goodbye.”
Aubrey shoved her chair back. “You knew before you came up here, didn’t you? You knew he was innocent.”
Cassandra’s shoulders flinched upward, her gold curls cascading between them. “So, what if I did? I had my guesses, anyway. He’s always been a softy. Could hardly believe it when they brought him home in cuffs while Charles only got a reprimand for gunslinging.”
Aubrey warmed at the thought of Cort’s unwavering goodness, but anxiousness soon swept over her. “What information are you holding back?”
Cassandra just traced the wood of the parlor table.
“You are bluffing.” Aubrey’s throat tightened and the same hopelessness that overwhelmed Cort promised to drown her in a flood of mourning. She spun around and rushed toward the door.
“Thing is—” Cassandra spoke loudly, stopping Aubrey midstep “—the man who told me Cort was innocent is leaving for a cattle drive to Wyoming, any day now.”
“You mean there’s a witness?” Aubrey turned toward her.
“Mmm-hmm.” Cassandra stood. “Cort doesn’t know, and I daresay Charles didn’t, either. Buck Lewis ran when he saw Charles kill the man. He knew how persuasive Charlie was. Thought he’d get wrangled into the mess. Probably would have, just like Cort. Buck showed up back in Amarillo just before Charles died. That’s when he saw Cort’s wanted posters and came to the house, causing a ruckus and blaming Charles for the murder.” She adjusted her hat. “I heard them talking in the parlor while I fed Trevor his supper.”
Aubrey rushed outside and Cassandra followed.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Buck Lewis.”
“They’ve probably left Amarillo already. Do you know how much land is between here and Wyoming?” Cassandra laughed. “By the time you do, Cort will be long gone.”
Aubrey turned the horse around toward the south. She’d gallop toward Amarillo and hopefully catch them. “I’m going to try.”
