The Fire of Home (A Powell Springs Novel)

by Harrington, Alexis

  “Shut the door, Em, we’re going to my office. The men know we’ll all be gathered there.” The midday sun glared off the hood of the car as Jessica pulled away.

  “What happened?” Em asked.

  “All right, now listen carefully because you’re all going to have to repeat it when someone else asks. I’m only going to tell this one more time today,” he said, his face showing a little more color now that his wife was with him. Hers was ghastly pale, making her freckles pop out like paint specks. So he explained again what had occurred and commented that he hoped Bax could take care of the problem once and for all since it kept coming back. He added that Bax should be all right because he had so many people with him, while Whit had gone alone.

  The women got him into Jess’s office, careful to avoid touching any of his obvious burns, and Amy sat on the sofa in the back office to wait for word of her own husband.

  “You might as well give it up,” Bax called to the house from the shelter of a large oak that grew in the front yard. “If you don’t, we’ll just storm the house and shoot you on the spot.”

  While he talked, one by one his posse slipped off to surround the house and check for possible entrances, using the cover of the shrubbery as much as they could. He didn’t expect his order to be followed, but he kept talking anyway.

  Then he noticed Paul McCoy in the yard, waving his arms to get Bax’s attention. He made a semicircular motion toward the front of the house with his pointed finger, but Bax wasn’t sure what he meant. Just then, the front door opened and two men emerged with their hands on their heads, being prodded along by Cole and Tanner.

  “I’ll be damned,” Bax uttered, and felt a rush of gratitude for the two men and their willingness to help. He didn’t know the details of how they’d gotten in—right now he was more interested in finding out who they’d caught.

  “What about the Beckers?” Bax asked.

  “Mrs. Becker is a little shaken up, but they’re fine,” Tanner said, just as the older couple emerged from the house.

  “We sure do want to thank you boys,” Luke said. He gestured at the two criminals, now surrounded by the rest of the posse and forced to sit on the ground with their hands tied behind them with clothesline they’d gotten in the house. “After you and Whit took out their still, they came back and waved a shotgun at my wife when she told them to get off our land. Emily doesn’t scare easy, but she’s not one to argue with a gun pointed at her face.” The couple still held hands, and Bax could see Mrs. Becker’s faded but vibrant beauty in the fine bones of her face and her fresh-snow white hair. She was nearly as tall as Doc Jess. “I called Whit and he came out. I guess you know what happened after that.”

  “I’m glad you’re both all right,” Bax said, then looked over at the two offenders. “I didn’t think it would be that easy to sneak up on them.”

  “Just because they’re lawbreakers doesn’t make ’em smart,” Paul McCoy observed.

  “True. Let’s see who we’ve got here.”

  One man he’d seen in Powell Springs a couple of times, but hadn’t thought much of. He might have been the one Granny Mae talked to. The other, though, the other—

  “By God! Tom Sommers?”

  Cole shrugged. “Yeah. Isn’t that something?”

  Bax felt like a gaffed salmon, his astonishment was so complete and unnerving. He’d lived under the same roof with the man, had sympathized with him when Deirdre died—hell, he’d even been sorry to see him move out of Amy’s house. Now he felt altogether defrauded. Then another thought occurred to him. “All those nights you claimed you were working late at the sawmill? You were making methanol?”

  Sommers looked up at him with an expression that could have frozen the blood in Bax’s veins. “So what? It paid better than that shit job at the mill.”

  “What about Deirdre?”

  “What about her? I didn’t kill her. That old woman did.” How could Bax, how could all of them, have been so deceived? Well, he had to admit, the guy had two completely different personalities. Even Adam Jacobsen wasn’t all that different from Harlan Monroe. Monroe just owned a better wardrobe and put on better manners, according to what he’d heard from Tabitha Pratt.

  Bax was so furious, he was afraid if Sommers said anything more, he’d kick the man in the head. “All right, tie them to Cole’s truck bed and bring them in. We’ll get this sorted out in town.”

  Luke and Emily shook everyone’s hands, and invited them all to an outdoor picnic sometime this summer. “We’ll have a grand time. My Emily is a good cook, so you won’t starve.” To Bax, he added, “I heard you just got married yesterday. I’m sorry we had to drag you away from your gal. I still remember the day Emily and I got married.”

  She gave him a wry look. “Yes, he was furious with me but he married me anyway.”

  “Well, I was supposed to marry your sister, and you tricked me good, but we don’t need to tell the world about that again. Anyway, it all worked out. We got four kids out of the deal, didn’t we?”

  She actually blushed and murmured to him, “That was the easiest part.”

  Cole and Bax stared at them, open-mouthed, and then at each other. Bax was itching with curiosity over that story. He’d have to ask around about it.

  Luke gave them a quizzical look. “Say, are you two boys related?”

  “Bax is my brother-in-law,” Cole answered. Bax glanced away and smiled, filled with a true sense of family and homecoming.

  “We’ll get out of your hair,” Bax said. “I hope this is the end of the problem for you.”

  “Don’t we all? Thanks again, boys,” Luke said. “We’ll be in touch about that picnic.” He put an arm around his wife’s waist and waved to them as they dragged the prisoners away.

  Would that be him and Amy in forty years? Bax wondered as they pulled out. Would he still be able to make her blush and giggle? They were off to a great start. He just needed to be able to spend some time with her.

  Amy had actually dozed off on that sofa in Jessica’s private office when she woke to the sound of a commotion out front. She sprang upright and got to her feet in time to see both Cole and Bax coming down the hallway from the waiting room.

  With an incoherent cry, she threw herself into his arms. “You’re all right?” she asked, raining kisses on his face. “Tell me you’re all right!”

  Cole chuckled and moved around them to see his own wife.

  “Yes, but what a story I have to tell you.” Bax sat down on the sofa and patted the place next to him. She sat too, cuddling up so tight he was pushed to the corner, and listened to the story of Tom Sommers and his new occupation. She stared at him the way he supposed he’d stared at Sommers.

  “Really? I can hardly believe it. He didn’t seem like that kind of man at all.”

  “Yeah, that’s what makes him even more creepy and dangerous than that stupid Jacobsen. He was heartless and incompetent. Sommers is just plain evil. I don’t know the whole story yet. I left Tilly in charge of the two prisoners. He can get them dinner from Mae’s and sit there the whole damned night as far as I’m concerned.” He told her about his whiny helplessness and Jessica’s comment to him about finding a spine. She laughed.

  “Yes, Jessie doesn’t pull any punches when she’s mad.”

  He nodded in the general direction of Jessica’s surgery. “What about Whit?”

  “She says he’ll be fine but he’ll have to take it easy for a couple of days. Some of those burns are as big as my palm, so he’ll be better off hanging around in his nightshirt for a while.”

  Bax sighed. “I guess I’ll have a couple of long days ahead of me too. But I talked to Horace about getting us more help. He said he’s up for reelection in November but he’s not going to run again. He wants to retire to his dairy farm and let someone else have the responsibility now.”

  “Hmm, I think I know
someone who might be just right for the job.”

  “Not me!”

  “No, no, not you. We’ll have to see what happens.”

  He paused for a moment, then asked, “Do you know Luke and Emily Becker?”

  “Just in passing. Why?”

  He played with her hand, lacing and unlacing their fingers. “They’ve been together for forty years, and he mentioned that she tricked him into marrying her. He was supposed to marry her sister.”

  She sat up a bit straighter. “I’ve never heard about that! I’ll have to do a little checking. Just out of curiosity, you understand.”

  “Well, yeah, I’m curious too. Be looking for an invitation from them for a summer picnic. They want to thank everyone who helped them today.” He turned her wedding ring on her finger. “We’ve come a long way over these months, you and I. Together and separately.”

  “I suppose we have,” she agreed quietly.

  “I came to Powell Springs looking for a home, one where no one knew about my past. It came out and I’m still here. You came back to Powell Springs because it’s the only home you know. People already knew about your past, you overcame it and got your family back. We found each other. And today, Cole referred to me as his brother-in-law. I lost my childhood family and found my real one.”

  “My luck changed when I changed,” she said simply.

  “My luck changed when I found you.” He reached up and pushed a blonde strand away from her eyes.

  They looked into each other’s eyes and his mouth took hers sweetly at first, then hungrily. She looped one arm around his neck and put her other hand on the back of his head.

  “I think you two had better go home.” Bax and Amy both jumped and saw Cole standing in the doorway. Amy ducked her head, and Bax laughed, feeling his face get hot. “It’s okay. You got dragged out of your hotel room early this morning, probably dog-tired from no sleep, and had to go assemble a posse to catch some bad guys. You weren’t supposed to spend your day like that.”

  Bax pulled himself out of the soft cushions and dragged Amy up with him. “As a point of fact, we were not. We were supposed to be enjoying each other’s company privately,” he said with great specificity. “And that’s what we’re going to do now.”

  Cole laughed and gave him a playful punch in the shoulder.

  Bax stopped to see Whit where he lay on one of the two beds in the back of the clinic. They were hidden behind hospital screens and served as recovery beds for Jess’s occasional surgical cases. He just wanted to make sure for himself that the man would be all right. Em sat beside him, her handkerchief balled up in her hand.

  “Oh, hell, I’m a tough old cuss. I’ll be fine. Doc Jess gave me a little shot of something for the pain and will send some pills home with me so I can sleep.”

  Bax could tell. His words were a little slurred, and Bax had had enough painkillers in military hospitals to know the feeling.

  Whit’s arms were wrapped here and there with white bandages, and a sheet covered the rest of him, so Bax couldn’t tell how much damage had been done. But his face sported a few blisters that looked angry and painful. Maybe worst of all for Whit, Doc Jess had shaved off part of his luxurious silver mustache. “Did Cole tell you who we caught?”

  He nodded. “Every time I think I’ve seen it all, I get surprised.”

  “Well, you take it easy. I’ve got Tilly watching the suspects in their cells, and I’ll be back there tomorrow. You know, he’s sort of useless for anything except selling beer.”

  “Huh, that’s not news. I’ve known him all my life and I don’t think he’s going to improve now.”

  Bax gripped Whit’s uninjured hand and patted Em’s shoulder. Amy patted Whit’s shoulder and gave Em a big hug. “You be sure to let us know if you need anything.” Em nodded and gave them a wobbly smile.

  After bidding good-bye to Jess and Cole, they walked out into the summer sun toward home, holding hands. “Do you remember the first day I saw you?” Amy asked.

  “Yes. You hated my guts on sight.”

  “No, I didn’t. I was terrified of you. You were driving a county sheriff’s car and I was worried that Adam had every local jurisdiction looking for me to drag me back to Portland. I wanted that ride you offered in the worst way. I’d been walking for miles in the rain and mud, and I was soaked right through.”

  “Jacobsen didn’t have that kind of authority or power to send police after you,” Bax scoffed. Then he said, “I suppose you didn’t know that at the time.”

  “No, I didn’t.” She looked around at the bright day and gestured at the sky. “But look how time changes things.”

  “And look how love has changed us.” He stopped and kissed her again, right there on the street, in front of God and Powell Springs, and anything else watching.

  “Oh, my.” She giggled and they picked up their pace, heading for home.

  EPILOGUE

  Bax stood in front of Whit’s desk and considered a photograph of Em that sat on his bookcase. “Do you two have plans for Christmas?” he asked.

  “I don’t think so. This year the boys are going out to the Grenfells’ farm for Christmas vacation.”

  “Come to our place. Cole and Jess will be there with Margaux and whatever little passenger she’s carrying in her this time. Tanner and Susannah will be there anyway with the kids, so you can spend Christmas with them. Mae will probably stop by, and I’ve got Nate Cameron scheduled to watch the office.”

  Whit smiled. “That sounds great. I know Em gets a little blue when they’re gone, but Tanner raised those boys for five years while Em was working. They all got a little attached.”

  “That’s okay, it’s like having extra family, aunts and uncles and so on.”

  “It is.” He glanced out his office window. “You know, it looks like it might snow out there pretty soon. Have those cars been delivered yet?”

  “No, but I got a call from the dealer. They’ll be here first thing in the morning.”

  “Okay, good.”

  In November, and at the urging of many, Whit Gannon ran unopposed for the office of mayor of Powell Springs. Deputy Bax Duncan was now Sheriff Bax Duncan, and between the two of them, they’d been able to make quite a few improvements in the month that he’d had the job. After Whit recovered, he and Bax sat down to discuss what they thought the department needed and which of those needs stood the best chance of being answered first. They were able to get three new cars and hire another two full-time deputies. Bax bought the old Model T for Amy and had it repainted so she wouldn’t have to drive around with the county’s emblem on the doors.

  Horace retired to his farm and after many years was able to devote all of his time to his dairy cows. There was even a reliable rumor going around that he’d started courting Birdeen Lyons. After all those years of working together, it wasn’t really surprising.

  Amy replaced the rug in the living room, the one that had been stained the day that Adam Jacobsen walked into the kitchen. Both he and Milo Breninger had been tried and convicted for some crimes, although others were still under investigation. While those were pending, they sat in prison at the Oregon State Penitentiary, awaiting the court’s pleasure.

  As for Bax and Amy, he was headed home right now to a glass of whiskey and a great dinner. He didn’t know what she would be cooking, but she hadn’t missed yet. He could see that she was right about her mother’s training—she loved working around the house, just as much as Jess hated it.

  “Okay, Whit, I’m off for home. I’ll bet Em is waiting for you too.”

  “Yeah, she is. She likes my new hours a whole lot better than the old ones. I’m there every night unless there’s a council meeting.”

  Bax shrugged back into his Woolrich coat—the east wind was howling down the Columbia River Gorge again—and walked out, waving at Birdeen on his way to the door.

>   When he pulled up to the house, he saw Amy in a heavy shawl, standing on the porch waiting for him, as she always did when she knew what time he’d be there. He came up the steps and his face was icy from the stiff wind.

  “Oh, come inside and sit by the stove! It’s going to be frigid tonight.” He looked at her, rosy from the cold, her hair pulled up into a loose knot, and he thought she’d never been more beautiful.

  He took her into his arms and she slipped hers around his waist inside his coat. She gave him an arch look. “I guess that means I’ll have to put the down quilt on the bed. Or wear that old flannel granny gown.”

  He laughed and kissed her. “I’ll help you look for the quilt.”

  “I thought you might want to do that.” She disentangled her arms.

  “What’s for dinner?” he asked, following her back to the kitchen.

  “Something good. Do you really care? You eat anything I put in front of you.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t care. I know it will be great. I have you. And I’m home.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo © 2011 Elena Rose Photography

  Alexis Harrington is the award-winning author of over a dozen novels, including the international bestseller The Irish Bride. She spent twelve years working as an administrative manager in civil engineering offices before she became a full-time novelist. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys jewelry making, needlework, embroidery, cooking, and entertaining friends. She lives in her native Pacific Northwest, near the Columbia River, with a variety of pets who do their best to distract her while she is working.