by Janet Dean
The sheriff swung from his horse, weapon drawn. “Heard the shot. Was afraid I was too late.” Then, as he took in Carly poised for trouble, a grin stole over his face. “Looks like you’ve got things well in hand, Mrs. Richards,” he said, “but, since I’m here, might as well do my job.”
Truitt grabbed up Stogsdill and pulled his hands behind his back to cuff him.
“Watch my hand!”
“You’re lucky that’s the only hole in you, Stogsdill,” Truitt said as the handcuffs closed with a clank. He turned to Carly and smiled. “Maybe you can talk Nate into splitting the reward money.”
“She deserves it all,” Nate said. “I’d be dead if she hadn’t distracted Stogsdill.”
“Sheriff, don’t listen to him. Nate deserves it for nearly sacrificing his life to save my son,” she said, her weapon still aimed at Stogsdill. “Do you know if Henry arrived in town?”
“Can’t say. Left town as soon as Lester warned me Stogsdill was in the area.”
“Maverick will get him back safely.” Nate wiped his sweaty face on his forearm, leaving a smear of blood on his sleeve. “If you left immediately, Truitt, I gotta wonder what took you so long,” he said, grinning.
“Took a roundabout route to the Pence farm, figuring that’s where Stogsdill would head.”
Carly’s brow furrowed. “Are Debby and the Pences okay?”
“They’re fine. Guess Stogsdill didn’t want to argue with a sawed-off shotgun and a grandfather itching to use it.”
“Oh, thank you, God,” Carly said.
“Where’s your horse, Stogsdill?” Truitt asked. When Stogsdill didn’t answer, the sheriff gave him a shake. “Not smart for a man who’ll be spending time in my jail.”
“Just beyond the clearing,” Stogsdill muttered.
Nate led the animal to the sheriff. “Put your foot in the stirrup, Stogsdill,” Nate said. When the outlaw complied, his cuffed hands behind his back, Nate heaved Stogsdill onto the horse. Stogsdill wobbled, but then righted himself in the saddle.
Truitt took a rope hanging from his saddle and trussed Stogsdill like a Thanksgiving turkey. “Can’t imagine he can cause any trouble, but I’ll keep a gun at the ready in case he tries something stupid.”
Nate turned to Carly. “Where’s your horse?”
“Just up the road.”
Nate found his Stetson and plopped it on his head. Side by side yet not touching, they walked to where Lady waited. Fireflies danced in the grass. Daylight was waning. On such a peaceful spring evening, Nate found it hard to believe they’d had to fight for their lives.
Though Nate loved Carly with everything in him, the words she’d spoken, Haven’t you done enough damage to my family? echoed through him. Still, he wouldn’t let Carly leave town until he’d had his say.
Carly tucked her gun into a drawstring bag looped over the saddle horn, then turned to him. “Do you want to ride double?”
Nothing would please him more than having Carly in front of him, tucked in his arms. “Thanks, but Lady’s getting up in years and is too small to carry us both.”
If not for this courageous woman, would he have survived Stogsdill’s squeezing hands on his throat? As he helped her mount, he said, “Thanks for saving my life back there.” He gazed into her soft eyes of cornflower blue. “I thought the knight was supposed to save the day, not the other way around.”
“Sometimes the damsel has to take matters into her own hands, especially when the knight’s face looks like raw beefsteak.”
“That bad?” he said, chuckling.
Her smile was tender. “Worse.” She fluttered a touch along his brow. “Does it hurt?”
“I’ve had worse.”
“You could have been killed.” Her touch stilled. “Thank you.”
He quirked his split lip into a grin. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”
“Please don’t make a joke, Nate. You saved my son. Me. Maybe even the town. I can’t thank you enough.”
“God was with us back there.”
“I know you’re right. I’ll be thanking Him on the ride home.” A smile curved across her face. “I can’t wait to hug and hold my son.”
For a moment Nate had hoped she’d say she wanted to hug him, too, but she didn’t. He wouldn’t push her. Not when he’d been the reason Henry had run away. “Henry wouldn’t have needed saving if not for me.”
“I was to blame more than you.” Her eyes welled with tears. “The question is, Nate, can you save yourself?”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe you need to think about what you want out of life,” she said, then nudged her horse.
Without a backward glance, she rode out to meet Truitt waiting in the road, Stogsdill’s horse trailing behind, and guided Lady to the back of the line.
“Sergeant, I’ll send a horse for you,” Truitt said, as they headed off and picked up speed.
Stogsdill swayed, fighting for balance on that fancy saddle he prized. Soon the outlaw would be behind bars where he belonged.
With Nate’s mission over, what would the next years bring? That decision rested with the beautiful, courageous woman disappearing around the bend.
And with God.
Nate couldn’t wait another day, another minute, to start over, to be clean, to be forgiven. He removed his Stetson and knelt beside the road, then closed his eyes and breathed the words he needed to say and he hoped God wanted to hear, “I’m sorry, Lord, for my need for revenge, for believing I was somehow invincible, able to protect and overcome anything when...”
He sucked in a shaky breath. “When I’m a mere man. I see now I’d put myself in Your seat. I’m climbing down now, Lord.” An emotional sigh slid from his lips. “I want to change. Help me throw off the shackles of anger and guilt and find new life, Your purpose, Your peace.”
Tears slid down his face as the oppressive weight of sin and guilt he’d carried slipped from his shoulders, replaced with the certainty that God loved and had forgiven him.
Joy bubbling up inside him, he rose. He was free. Free from the mistakes of his past. Free to begin anew.
Free to settle down with Carly. If she would have him.
* * *
Tucked in his bed, his sleep toy at his side, Henry smiled up at Carly. Finally she could let down her guard. The nightmare was over. Thank You, Lord, for saving us.
Nate had pretended to give Carly the credit for saving him, but when Stogsdill had reared back against the barrel of her gun, her finger had wobbled on the trigger and fired, the bullet barely missing Nate. Another few inches...
“Mama, one more drink. Please.”
Carly complied. She couldn’t think of a time when she’d been happier for her son to invent excuses to postpone his bedtime.
Henry drank a few sips of water, then handed her the cup. She kissed him on the cheek. He appeared relaxed, no worse for his ordeal.
Would his abduction create problems later? If so, she’d encourage him to talk about his worries. And no longer ignore trouble and pretend all was well when it wasn’t.
Henry yawned. “Nate said he loves you, Mama.”
Nate loved her. She’d heard his claim, yet hearing it now, the words zinged through her, producing a mixture of anticipation and alarm. Was she ready for love, for such a huge step?
What if Henry wouldn’t accept Nate in their life? “Are you still mad at Nate?”
“Nope, he saved me from the bad man.” His brow furrowed. “Is that why Nate shot Pa? ’Cause Pa was a bad man?”
She peered into her son’s innocent eyes. She would not tell Henry that his father was bad. But she would answer his questions and let the conversation go wherever he led.
“Nate shot your father because he was going to shoot him.” She studied her son, recalling his tearful assertion that Max didn’t do bad things. Surely the claim of a distraught, hurting boy. “Henry, you know your pa did bad things, don’t you?”
Eyes troubled, he nodded. “He scared me.�
�
“Me, too.” She glanced at the small soiled Stetson on the bureau. “I’m sorry you had to find out about your pa like you did.” She brushed a lock of hair off his forehead. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk with you about a lot of things.”
Max’s outbursts paraded across her mind, of Max throwing food, knocking her to the floor, yelling at her and Henry, shaking her son.
“Things like your pa’s temper that made him say and do cruel things. You were right when you said I wasn’t truthful. Can you forgive me?”
“I forgive you, Mama.” The peaceful expression on Henry’s face proved he did.
“I promise you can talk to me about anything and I’ll be honest. No secrets between us.”
“Did Nate kill that bad man that catched me?”
“No, he didn’t. Stogsdill’s in jail. The courts will punish him, not Nate. God’s Word says life is precious and we’re not to kill.” Yet for Henry, for Nate, she’d have pulled that trigger. She thanked God she hadn’t needed to. “Lawmen sometimes use weapons to protect people. But they’re not to shoot unless there’s no other way.”
“I don’t wanna be a lawman. I wanna take care of horses.”
Nate’s influence no doubt. “You would be a good liveryman.”
“Maverick taked me to town, Mama. People was shouting and cheering. Nate’s horse didn’t spook.”
“Everyone in Gnaw Bone is happy you’re safe.” Carly adjusted the collar on Henry’s pajamas. “Me, most of all,” she said, inhaling his fresh-washed scent.
“Mama, I’m sorry I runned away.”
“Running away isn’t a good solution. Next time you’re upset, talk to me about it.” She pulled Henry onto her lap. “Are you still mad about anything?”
“That bad man scared the mad outta me.”
Carly nodded, understanding how life-and-death events put things in perspective. After their encounter with Stogsdill, she now understood Nate’s quest was important; the only way to ensure his survival and the survival of anyone he cared about.
“I told Nate I was sorry for saying I hate him.” Tears welled in his eyes. “I don’t hate him, Mama. I love Nate.”
“And he loves you.”
“He does. He told me.” Henry smiled up at her. “Mama, marry Nate so I can get me a new pa.”
Her mind racing with possibilities, with uncertainties, with all the eventualities, Carly tucked Henry under the covers.
What if she and Nate couldn’t work out their differences? What if he wouldn’t give up chasing after outlaws? What if he’d declared his love for her in a moment of high tension and didn’t mean it?
Did that openness she’d promised include discussing romance with a seven-year-old? “We’ll see. It’s almost ten. Far too late to be planning our lives, you little monkey. Now go to sleep.”
“The key turns on the monkey. M-o-n-k-e-y.” Another yawn. This time his mouth opened so wide it all but swallowed Henry’s face. “I’m sleepy, Mama. I’ll ask for a new pa tomorrow.”
With one final kiss on Henry’s forehead, Carly rose, the knot in her stomach bigger than Henry’s Stetson across the way. Nothing in her life had prepared her to reach for happiness. If she wanted to give her son his wish, she’d have to face and conquer her fear of trusting her heart to a man.
Perhaps, just perhaps, she would be enough for a good man.
A good man like Nate, a quiet voice said inside her.
She turned out the lamp and left the room, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
* * *
The worst was over. Stogsdill was behind bars. Henry was found. Nate had made peace with God. So why didn’t he feel reassured?
How could he, when things were still unsettled between him and Carly? Why not be honest? Things between them were a mess. He’d clean up that mess if it was the last thing he did. Nothing mattered if he didn’t have Carly in his life.
Carly opened the door to his rap. “Nate.” She smiled, easing the tension inside him. “I’m relieved you’re back.”
Did she care? About him? A faint glimmer of hope slid through him. “Sheriff Truitt sent Lester out with Maverick. On the ride into town, Harders nearly talked me to death.” Nate grinned. “I suspect all those words Lloyd doesn’t say end up coming out of Lester’s mouth.”
Carly chuckled. “Could be.”
They needed to talk. Not about such frivolous stuff as the Harders. About them. That couldn’t wait until tomorrow. Please, Lord, let her say yes.
“I know it’s late, but I’ve got a few words of my own that need saying.”
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Thank You, Lord. Now if he could only make amends.
“Let’s sit on the porch. Henry’s asleep and I don’t want to risk waking him.” She smiled. “Though he’s so worn out, I doubt John Philip Sousa’s band marching through his bedroom would rouse him.”
“That’s tired.”
She stepped out onto the porch and eased the door closed behind her. The full moon, the gentle breeze, the quiet street, all spoke of a serene spring night. But, inside, Nate’s stomach flipped faster than tumbleweed in a windstorm.
Carly sat on the wicker settee, leaving room for him.
As if taking a seat on a prickly cactus, Nate eased down beside her, unsure how to get to the reason for his visit. “How’s Henry after his abduction?”
“He may have some bad dreams, but he’ll be fine.”
Nate reached for her hand and she allowed him to take it. “You were a courageous woman tonight.” He studied her. “How are you?”
“Grateful. Grateful to you and to God for keeping Henry safe.”
God had seen to the boy’s safety. Nate knew that now. No mere mortal could control the uncontrollable, as he’d tried to do. “As evil as Stogsdill is, he didn’t have it in him to harm a child. The only explanation is God.”
The smile she gave him was a gift.
“Thanks to you and God, Carly, we’ve rid the world of a menace. A task I’d set out to do as an eighteen-year-old boy, almost eight years ago. After all those years pursuing him, having him in jail is a huge relief, but it also feels strange, almost unreal.”
“You were young for such an enormous task.”
“We both had to grow up quickly.” He had to know. “Are you still planning to leave town?”
“Anna will pay for my supplies. With my half of the fees from the Schwartz order, I’ll have funds to start a new business in a new town. This time the name on the sign out front will be mine.”
“What it should’ve been all along.”
“Max wouldn’t have allowed that. But now I’m making my own decisions and a new start.”
“Please don’t leave, Carly.” He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. “Give us a chance.”
Her gaze locked with his. “Today, when you had the chance, why didn’t you shoot to kill?”
He cupped her hand with his. “I discovered I couldn’t kill Stogsdill in cold blood, unless I had no choice.”
“You’ve changed. In more ways than one.” The tender look in her eyes was almost a caress. “You just gave God the credit for Stogsdill not harming Henry.”
“Today taught me that I can’t handle this life without God in it. I asked Him to forgive me for the life I’ve lived. For the mistakes I’ve made.” He swallowed hard. “And I think He has. I’m finally free of the guilt and hate I’ve carried.”
“Oh, Nate...”
“I’ve always believed in God, but I was angry with Him for allowing evil to flourish.” Tears welled in his eyes, threatening to undo him. Carly squeezed his hands, enabling him to continue. “I didn’t believe God could love someone like me.”
“I’ve known you were a good man for quite a while. I’m relieved you now see that, too.”
* * *
Carly watched the play of emotion on Nate’s face. With every particle of her being, she knew this man, toughened by the terrible tragedies in his life, had relea
sed all that stood between him and a forgiving God.
Nate loved God. And she believed he loved her and Henry. He’d shown his love for them, time and time again, but vengeance—that need to bring down Stogsdill—had stood in the way, along with his fear he’d bring disaster down on their heads.
Now nothing stood in the way. Certainly not losing the shop to Anna. God was their security, not the business she’d paid a terrible price for. God had her and Henry in His grip and would provide for their needs. Had he already done that when He’d brought Nate to town? Had He known that together she and Nate would heal their wounds and find love? Had He known Nate would be the dad Henry had prayed for?
Why had she taken so long to understand the truth? Tears flooded her eyes. She loved Nate. Heart and soul.
Did she have the courage to tell him? She’d prayed about her feelings for Nate on the ride into town. Would he put down his gun and prove he was part of God’s plan for her and Henry? Could Nate be a man who stayed? A man to settle in one town, committed to a family?
She wouldn’t continue living in the shadow of her own life. She’d speak up. Set things in motion. Take action, as she’d done when she’d ridden out to save her son.
She motioned to the gun belt riding Nate’s hips. “Are you giving that up?”
Without one word, Nate released the buckle and tossed his gun belt onto the floor, then pulled her close. “Only a fool would choose a six-shooter over an amazing woman like you.”
Tears stung her eyes. “I love you, Nate. Goodness knows I’ve fought it with everything in me. But there it is.” She raised her chin. “So what are you going to do about it?”
He grinned. “I like a woman who knows her own mind. Guess it’s time to buy a livery.”
“What?” she said, swatting at him.
“Appears my feisty seamstress’s apt to stitch a nip or a tuck in my hide if I don’t get it said.”
He dropped to the floor on one knee and took her hand, gazing up at her. What she saw in the depths of his smoky-gray eyes spoke the words she longed to hear and knew were coming.
“I love you, Carly, with all my being. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you!” She rose, pulling him to his feet and into her arms. Nothing had ever felt so right.
