“I know he cares.” Darwin sighed, flopping back into his chair. “I just don’t like the way he keeps treating me like a kid. I am only two years away from being ten years old, and then I'll practically be a man. Ever since my parents died, everyone just keeps treating me like a kid. I’m so tired of people acting like I need to be protected all the time. My dad treated me like a man, and I miss that.”
“Believe it or not, I know exactly what you mean,” Melanie said wistfully. “I used to have those exact kinds of complaints when my father would prevent me from doing something while growing up. I used to think that he was babying me and couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t let me prove myself to him.”
“What changed?” Darwin asked.
“My father told me that while he understood my frustrations, he was just trying to make me spend my time as a kid worrying about a child’s responsibilities. When he was a young boy, his father always seemed to stop him from doing those things he wanted to do. He wouldn’t let my father go out hunting with him until he was thirteen, and it seemed like every time my father asked my grandfather if he could do something, my grandfather would refuse,” Melanie said, noting the look of displeasure on Darwin’s face. “Then, one day, my father decided he was going to go behind my grandfather’s back and do what he wanted anyway.”
“What happened then?” Darwin popped a strawberry into his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Well, my father decided that he was going to go out with one of his friends and climb a tree. My father ended up slipping and falling off that tree, but his leg caught in one of the branches on the way down. He ended up breaking that leg. My grandfather found him hanging upside down from the tree, unconscious from the pain because my father’s friend ran back to the house to go get him,” Melanie said, remembering how her father had grimaced as he told her the story.
Darwin’s eyes were huge now. “What did your grandfather do? Did he beat your father’s hide raw?”
“Surprisingly, no. My grandfather sat with my father every day while his leg healed, helping him rehabilitate it. But when they first reset his leg, my grandfather told my father that when he told him not to do something, it was because he knew that the outcome would not be worth the momentary pleasure. When he said no, it was to spare him from pain like this. When kids show interest in something, we don’t want to say no. But we also understand the risks that come with certain actions that young people like you just don’t know about yet. My grandfather didn’t want my father to feel like he couldn’t pursue his interests, but he wanted him to know where to draw the line,” Melanie said, noting how quiet Darwin had gotten.
“I think it is time for me to head back to the orphanage,” Darwin said quietly, quickly gathering his things. Not wanting to argue, Melanie rounded the rest of the fruit up in a basket and gave it to Darwin to take home. As they were coming out of the school building, Darwin suddenly stiffened beside her. Turning her gaze to where he was staring, she felt her heart sink when she spotted Johnny Carrington once again making his way toward the school building. The last person she wanted to see right now was him.
“You need to be careful around him, Miss Thompson,” Darwin said quietly, eyeing Johnny with obvious vehemence. “That man is a snake that walks on two legs.”
“That is some rather strong language to use against him, Darwin. I am sure that Mr. Carrington can’t be that bad. He comes across as unsavory, but I’m sure first impressions don’t do him justice,” Melanie said dismissively.
“If you say so,” Darwin mumbled. “I’ll see you later, Miss T.”
“Okay, have a good day, Darwin,” Melanie said quickly, waving as the young boy departed. “I’ll see you again tomorrow.”
“Miss Thompson, what a surprise to see you still around so long after classes have let out. Could it be that you were waiting around hoping that I would show up?” Johnny asked, his teeth glinting as he smiled. “Does that mean that you are finally free enough for us to have that dinner date?”
“I am afraid I shall have to disappoint you yet again. I was only staying around because I was waiting on Peter to come and pick Darwin up. The sheriff seems to be running late, so I told Darwin he could head home early rather than waiting around all day for him. Now that he’s headed off safely, I have other errands to attend to,” Melanie replied pleasantly, doing her best to walk around Johnny.
“Are you absolutely sure? We wouldn’t need to go far. It might not be the finest, but that eatery isn’t famous around here for no reason. Or you could allow me the pleasure of inviting you to my personal abode where I can have my chef prepare something worthy for you,” Johnny pressed, his voice oozing with charm. It was enough to make Melanie’s skin crawl. As he continued trying to coerce her, Melanie found herself silently hoping Peter would show up to free her from this situation.
“Miss Thompson, sorry to keep you waiting! I ended up having to help the Wathe and Pith families with a land dispute. Did Darwin head off already?” Peter asked, jogging up to her and glancing only momentarily in Johnny’s direction. “Sorry, Johnny, but I am afraid I would like to talk to Miss Thompson in private regarding one of her students. If you’ll excuse us,” Peter said, putting his arm around Melanie’s shoulders and firmly guiding her away before Johnny could reply.
Melanie had to bite her cheek once again to stop herself from smiling, taking pleasure in the sight of Johnny seething as they went on their way.
Chapter 20
The day had started uneventfully, but around the time the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Peter was roused from his nap by the sound of people shouting outside of his jail. Upon going out to investigate, he had found two men inches from coming to blows. They both tried to talk over the other while trying to tell him what happened, pushing one another constantly.
Their yelling had caused his head to throb, the vein in his temple pulsing visibly. “That is quite enough!” he said loudly enough to silence the two men, who each took a step back in surprise. “If you two can’t tone yourselves down, then I cannot help you. I’m not going to sit here and be subjected to your shouting match. Explain what happened nicely or deal with it yourselves.”
The two men had looked at one another, frowns deepening. Eventually, the first man broke the silence. “I told him from the beginning that this didn’t need to be something that you would be bothered with, but this idiot here won’t accept any other outcome.”
“That’s because I have no proof that you won’t try to rip me off, you old goat,” the second man spat back, the two obviously not on the best of terms to begin with. “It wouldn’t be the first time that you’ve conned me on the value of something.”
“Are you accusing me of dishonesty?” the first man had snarled.
“I’m not nominating you for sainthood, that’s for sure,” the second one retorted. “You would probably cheat your mother if it meant making a few more bucks.”
“Let’s see how you bad mouth me when I knock all your teeth out!” the first man said, pulling back his fist to strike the second.
Peter had pulled his pistol from its holster and raised it in the air, firing off two shots, the sound of which cracked loudly enough to make him wince. The two men then immediately dove down into the dirt, their hands raised above their heads in an attempt to shield themselves.
“Are you out of your mind, Sheriff? You can’t just treat Walter Pith that way,” the first man said indignantly, slowly climbing to his feet and fastidiously dusting himself off.
“That goes for Marcus Wathe too,” the second man huffed, eyeing his dusty suit with distaste. “You made me ruin my favorite suit.”
“Last I checked, I wasn’t the one who told you to dive into the middle of the street. I told the two of you that if you didn’t explain nicely, I wasn’t going to listen. Now, I’ll give you one last chance. Try not to ruin things for yourselves this time,” Peter had snapped, holstering his gun and crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I am truly n
ot in the mood for this.”
Mr. Pith and Mr. Wathe eyed each other warily for a moment before the former finally said, “Just follow us, Sheriff. We will show you what it is we need your assistance with.”
It had all come down to a section of fence that had blown over from one of the recent dust storms. It had only fallen over maybe a foot away from where it used to be, but it made it look like the owner of the fence had arbitrarily extended a single section over into what Peter assumed was the neighbor’s land. After grabbing the out of place post and returning it back to where it lined up with the others, Peter had turned to the two men. “Do me a favor, gentlemen, and do this without me next time. I have many duties but helping you fix the boundaries on your lands is not one of those jobs.”
“Yes, sir,” the two men had replied apologetically, hats held in their hands.
Glancing at the clock tower, Peter had cursed to himself as he saw how late it had gotten. Moving that fence post had taken a lot longer than he’d expected, and it was well past the time when he was supposed to have gone to pick Darwin up from his classes.
Peter had first made his way to the orphanage, surprised when he found Darwin kneeling beside the main road. He hadn’t expected to stumble across him this long after school got out. “Darwin, there you are. I’m sorry I didn’t come to get you today. My duties had me occupied elsewhere.”
“Whatever. I preferred being able to walk without you nagging me the whole way,” Darwin said dismissively, tossing a small pebble out onto the dusty road before him.
Peter could tell the boy was moody, but he couldn’t understand what had caused his sudden mood change. When he had dropped Darwin off earlier that day, the youth had been in relatively high spirits. “Yikes, what got on your bad side this morning?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Darwin replied snippily. “I’m just an orphaned boy no one seems to want to take time for and that everyone treats as a kid and a nuisance. What could possibly be going wrong in my life?”
“If nothing is wrong, then why didn’t you wait for me at the school?” Peter prodded, his mind filled with the sound of warning bells.
“No reason. I just didn’t feel like waiting for you today. I had a good time with Miss Thompson after school and wanted to be able to enjoy my good feelings for a while,” Darwin then snapped back. “Not that I need to explain myself to you.”
“I can do without the attitude, Darwin. I’m just trying to help,” Peter growled in response. “You don’t have to be so insufferable when I’m just trying to ask some basic questions.”
“It was because Mr. Carrington showed up, okay? I saw him coming toward the schoolhouse and decided I didn’t want to be there anymore,” the boy replied gruffly. “He’s not the kind of person I want to be around.”
“I mean, I can certainly understand the sentiment, but what makes you say that? Mr. Carrington has a tendency to rub people the wrong way, that’s all. He has a rather abrasive personality, but that doesn’t make him a bad person,” Peter replied dismissively.
“I just don’t like the way he acts around Miss Thompson. Always trying to come onto her no matter how much she tells him she isn’t interested. He is a bad man, Peter. You can tell from the look in his eyes. He’s a snake on two legs if I ever saw one, and just as dangerous. Whatever ideas he has for Miss Thompson, I can tell they aren’t good,” Darwin admitted softly.
“Is that so? Then I guess it is a good idea for me to check on her, isn’t it? That way, I can put your fears to rest,” Peter replied cheerfully, clapping Darwin on the shoulder gently. “Thanks for your help.”
“You promise you will go take a look?” Darwin’s eyes were pleading as they looked up at him, making it impossible for Peter to tell him no.
“I promise. I’ll make my way over there right now.” Peter held his hand over his heart and made a quick X motion that was soon copied by Darwin. It was a little handshake that the two of them had come up with for when they made a big promise. Whoever broke their promise would run the risk of having their heart explode from a curse.
When Peter had gotten in view of the school building, he was surprised to find that Melanie was still standing in front of it. What was more, she was standing directly in front of Johnny, the two looking like they were in the middle of their conversation.
Something she said caused Johnny’s face to visibly darken with rage, and though Peter was enjoying watching the pompous fool get put in his place, he was also fearful of what Johnny would try to do in retaliation to Melanie should she kindle his wrath. This would probably be a good time to intervene, before things escalate.
Peter called out to her, jogging up to them and glancing only momentarily in Johnny’s direction. “Sorry, Johnny, but I am afraid I would like to talk to Miss Thompson in private regarding one of her students. If you’ll excuse us,” Peter said, putting his arm around Melanie’s shoulders and firmly guiding her away before Johnny could reply.
Melanie seemed so grateful for his sudden appearance that she didn’t even object as he threw his arm around her, leading her away from Johnny and the school grounds. “Just keep walking with me and don’t look back at him,” Peter murmured, speaking out of the side of his mouth.
“You have fabulous timing,” Melanie breathed as they finally found themselves out of earshot. “I swear if that had gone on any longer, I would have smacked him. How dare he assume that he can bully me into doing what he wants. I’m not some weak-willed woman that will bow to his whim, unlike these other women around here.”
“Darwin was worried about you and told me about Johnny showing up. I admit that I was a little worried about you myself,” Peter said, cheeks flushing red in his embarrassment. “I promised him I would check up on you, and that’s the only reason I’m here, I promise. I’m not trying to stalk you or anything like that.”
He could tell from the look on her face that Melanie didn’t believe him, but if she had any smart remarks, she kept them to herself. Personally, he was grateful for that, since after the dispute earlier, he’d had his fill of shouting for the day. “Do you have spare time? We can talk back at my office where there won’t be ears around to overhear us.”
“I suppose I could spare a little bit of time,” Melanie replied, turning her head as she heard the sound of a carriage trundling close. She and Peter watched as Johnny’s carriage passed by, Peter able to feel the other man’s rage from where he stood. That only made his smile widen.
That’s what he gets for thinking he can make any woman swoon for him. It’s about time someone came along to knock him down a couple of pegs. Still, Peter couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to be brewing soon. He just wished he had some semblance of an idea of what that might be.
“Peter, are you alright? Your eyes got distant there for a second,” Melanie said, peering up into his eyes as she was standing before him.
“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get down to business,” he replied quickly. “I have more questions for you about Lawrence.”
Chapter 21
When they’d seen Johnny’s carriage finally wheel away, they doubled back and returned to the school so that Melanie could lock it up for the night. After slipping the small key ring back into one of the small pouches sewed on the outside of her dress, Melanie returned her attention to Peter.
“Now then, is everything alright? Did something happen to Darwin?” Melanie asked urgently.
“Not that I know of,” Peter said, shaking his head slowly. “The boy looked a little angry about nearly having a run-in with Johnny, but that was about it. All he told me was that he didn’t think it was wise for you to be left alone with the man. Darwin told me straight to my face that he doesn’t think Johnny Carrington is a man to be trusted, and honestly, I can’t say I blame him.”
“Sounds like there is a story you aren’t telling me.” Melanie grinned, poking a finger into Peter’s chest gently. “I thought that you were considering having the two of us work to
gether. Do you always keep things from your prospective partners like this, or am I just being kept out of the loop?”
“I would say that my vagueness is something that everyone who has worked with me has had to deal with at some point. I’m the kind of person who is used to doing things on his own, so I’m not used to having men nearby that I can call upon to assist me. I certainly didn’t have anyone in town who would be willing to spy on Johnny Carrington for me. He has a lot of money, and a lot of friends around this place because of it. Though, I am not sure you can call a person who only has an acquaintance with you for money a friend,” Peter replied, shaking his head. “It was really interesting around here when I got announced as the new sheriff; I’ll tell you that.”
“Interesting how, exactly?” Melanie asked curiously, tilting her head to the side. “He didn’t try to attack you or anything like that, did he?”
“Honestly, it is a long story that I don’t want to get into right now. Just suffice it to say that Johnny and I have had bad blood between us ever since I was announced as Michael’s successor. Johnny probably thought that he was a shoo-in for the job given that he had worked with Michael far longer than I had, and I honestly wouldn’t have been bent out of shape if he’d gotten the job instead. The fact that he has a vendetta against me for having been chosen, however, makes it really tempting for me to boast about it each time I see him,” Peter chuckled, grinning.
A Bride to Melt the Sheriff’s Iron Heart Page 11
