by Judith Stacy
“Damn it!” Jared slammed his drawer shut. Now the woman would never sell him Mattie’s brooch.
He stalked out of the office, needing some air, trying to walk off some of his anger. He hadn’t gone far when a tiny flash of blue darted toward him.
Chuckie Waldron. No way in hell was that kid going to kick him again. Jared spun around and made a grab for him.
A little squeal sounded. He froze. It wasn’t Chuckie.
Standing on the boardwalk was a little girl no more than six years old. She had carrot-red pigtails and wore a blue dress.
“Are you the theriff?” She gazed up at him with fearful eyes.
“Huh?”
“The theriff?” Big tears pooled in her eyes as she pointed to the badge on his chest. “Mama thayth the theriff is thuppothed to help people. Are you the theriff?”
Jared had never felt so big and clumsy in his life, towering over this tiny girl who was on the verge of sobbing. He glanced around, feeling useless, looking for somebody to help him, but saw no one. Finally, he pushed his hat back on his head and knelt in front of her.
“I’m the sheriff. Is something wrong?”
“Yeth.” She dug her knuckles into one eye, fighting back tears. “My mama’th lotht.”
A little shower of spittle rained on Jared’s chin, caused by the fact that the child’s two front teeth were missing. Jared ran his sleeve over his face.
“She’s lost, huh?” He gave her a little smile. “As it happens, finding lost mamas is what I do best.”
She blinked back her tears. “Really?”
“Sure. Now, what’s your name?”
“Thally.”
Jared wiped his cheek. “Okay, Sally, come on up here and we’ll find your mama.”
He lifted her with one arm. “What’s your mama’s name?”
“Mama.”
“All right.” Jared turned in a slow circle. “Do you see her anywhere?”
“No, thir.”
“What were you doing in town?”
“Thopping at the thtore.”
Jared dried his cheek with his cuff. “Where do you live, Sally?”
“I don’t know.” Her bottom lip poked out. “Thuppose mama never comth back?”
“She’ll come back. Mamas never stay lost for long.”
Jared didn’t have much to go on to find the little girl’s mother. But, more than likely, the woman had already realized her child was missing and was frantically searching at this moment.
Turning, he saw Ben and Abel and their checkerboard at their usual spot in front of the mercantile.
“We seen her mama a little bit ago,” Abel said, “with her other young-uns, looking at the toys in the window there.”
“Didn’t recognize her, though,” Ben added. “Must be passing through or coming to town early for the big doings.”
“Give a yell if you spot her, will you, boys?”
“Sure thing, Sheriff.”
Jared carried Sally into the mercantile, thinking maybe her mama was there. Hayden didn’t recognize the child, nor had he seen her mother. Jared bought her a peppermint stick and went outside again. They looked at the toys displayed in the window, and Sally licked her candy until a commotion broke out behind them.
Sally whipped around, poking Jared in the eye with her peppermint stick. “Mama!”
The young woman, surrounded by four redheaded children, rushed over, holding out her arms. She yanked Sally away, hugging and kissing her.
“Thank you, Sheriff, thank you for finding her! I didn’t take my eye off her for a minute—I swear, not even a minute, and she was gone.”
Jared nodded, looking at the other kids swarming around her. “Looks like you’ve got your hands full.” He pulled coins from his pocket and handed them to the oldest boy. “Go inside the mercantile, son, get some peppermint for everybody.”
A chorus of squeals and thank-yous rose from the children as they all rushed into the store. Their mother followed, but Sally pushed away, looping her arms around Jared’s neck.
“Thankth, Therriff.”
“You’re welcome, Sally,”
She planted a sticky kiss on his cheek; Jared didn’t wipe it off.
He watched them go, the young mother doing her best to corral her brood, the children racing toward the candy counter with bright faces. Jared couldn’t help feeling pleased.
But as he turned to leave, he spotted Mrs. Pomeroy across the street, glaring at him. She looked as if she’d been standing there for a while. Probably plotting ways to get him fired, Jared figured.
He took a turn through town, as was his custom, looking things over, keeping an eye out for trouble. With the impending arrival of the Eastern investors and all that went with it, a lot of new faces were in Stanford, anxiously awaiting the festivities. The town council had given him the three deputies they’d promised; he considered putting them to work sooner than planned.
As was also Jared’s custom when he made his rounds through town, he went by the Cottonwood Café. Mattie looked as if she felt better, despite the frown lines in her forehead; getting the money to pay for the investors’ supper occupied most of her thoughts, it seemed.
He didn’t stay long because it was so damn hard not to insist she take the money from him. But he managed to hold his tongue. Mattie wanted to work out her problems on her own. He was willing to let her—up to a point.
Leaving the restaurant, he spotted Billy riding back into town with Jim Ballard. When Jared got to the jail, Big Jim was outside his son’s cell, chewing on him pretty good. For once Johnny looked as if he were glad to be locked up, out of his father’s reach.
“Mr. Ballard?” Jared called.
The rancher gave his son a final scathing look, and walked into the office, fuming and shaking his head. “That boy. Damn! What’s wrong with him?”
“Mr. Ballard, that boy of yours is on his way to being completely worthless,” Jared told him. “Your wife is ruining him.”
“That’s for damn sure.”
“And you’re not doing much to help.”
Ballard glared at Jared for a moment, then huffed. “I paid for the damages to the saloon. What’ll it cost to get him out of jail?”
“I told you before, Mr. Ballard, if this happened again it was going to take more than you paying a fine to get the boy released.” Jared sat down behind his desk and gestured to a chair on the other side. Ballard grumbled, then sat down.
Jared took out the prisoner ledger and showed Big Jim the page bearing his son’s name and the list of offenses beneath it.
“Look, Sheriff, I’ll give you my word he won’t cause any more trouble.”
“These are serious offenses.”
“I know,” Ballard said. “And I’ll see to it he’s properly punished. He’ll not come back to Stanford unless I’m with him, I swear.”
Jared shook his head.
“Sheriff, you’ve got to understand.” Ballard shifted as if he didn’t like having to explain. “I can’t go home without that boy.”
“Your wife, huh?”
“My wife. Now, there must be something we can work out.”
Jared opened his mouth with the intention of telling Ballard that his wife was his own problem. Johnny and his drunken behavior was Jared’s problem.
But he didn’t say anything. Instead, an idea came to him. He thought it over for a moment.
While Johnny had caused some damage to the Lady Luck, it wasn’t too bad; not as bad, really, as some of the fistfights that occasionally broke out. The boy hadn’t injured anyone, hadn’t killed anyone. Jim was paying for the damages, and Jared believed he’d keep his promise not to allow the boy back in town. All things considered, Johnny’s crimes weren’t that bad.
“The Three B is a cattle ranch, isn’t it?” Jared asked.
“Sure is.”
“You’ve probably got other livestock out there, too, to feed your hands. Chickens and hogs?”
“Of course.”
Jared sat back in his chair. “Tell me, Mr. Ballard, are you familiar with the sheriff’s office’s community assistance program?”
“Oh, my goodness, I can hardly believe it!”
Mattie pressed her fingers against her lips to keep from squealing with delight. “This is really happening, isn’t it?” she gasped. “I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“If it’s a dream, I don’t want to wake up,” Mrs. Nance declared.
The women stepped out of the way as four men from the Three B Ranch unloaded crates of supplies from wagons and carried them into the storage room of the Cottonwood Café.
Mattie turned to Billy as he directed the ranch hands. “Mr. Ballard is donating all this food for the investors’ supper?”
Billy frowned. “Yes, ma’am.”
“But why? I don’t understand. What made him make such a generous donation?”
Billy dragged the back of his hand across his mouth. “Well, Miss Mattie, all I can say is that Big Jim just thought it was the right thing to do, him being so community minded and all.”
“It’s an excellent chance to show off the meat from his cattle,” Mattie agreed. “Is that the sort of thing those investors will be interested in?”
Billy glanced away. “I reckon so.”
“And all he wants in return is for me to make an announcement the night of the supper acknowledging the food was donated by the Three B Ranch?” Mattie shook her head in wonder. “Why, it’s an answer to my prayer.”
“Something like that,” Billy mumbled. “Excuse me, Miss Mattie, I got to keep a close eye on where these men are putting the food.”
Mattie’s heart raced as she watched the ranch hands make trip after trip from the wagons to the storage room. She could hardly believe it! Yet here it was.
All her planning and scheming, all the wakeful nights and dark days she’d spent worrying about how she’d pay for the food, and now her problem was solved. Her restaurant was saved, her future secure. Hers and her baby’s.
Jared. She had to tell Jared at once.
Mattie slipped past Billy, reaching for her shawl and handbag. “I’ve got to give this good news to Jared right away. Do you mind keeping an eye on things?”
“No, I reckon not.”
Mattie glanced up at Billy, but he looked away. She realized then how odd his behavior had been since the Three B Ranch wagons had showed up.
“Billy, is something wrong?”
“No.”
She’d known Billy for a long time. He’d worked alongside her at the restaurant, helping with every facet of its operation. Washing dishes was the least of his contribution. It certainly wasn’t like him to be short with her, or to not be just as thrilled as she by this unexpected good fortune.
“Something’s wrong, Billy, I can tell by looking at you,” Mattie said, leaving her shawl and handbag where they were. “What is it?”
“It’s not my place to say, Miss Mattie. The sheriff wouldn’t like it.”
“Jared?” A chill went up her spine. “What’s he got to do with this?”
“Ain’t none of my business, really, what he does. He’s the sheriff and I’m a deputy. A temporary deputy, at that.”
When Jared had challenged her to talk to anyone in town—namely Billy—about him, Mattie had considered doing it. It seemed, as Jared suggested, the best way to learn what sort of man he truly was. But in the end it didn’t feel right, asking about him behind his back.
Now, though, Mattie got a whole different idea about Jared. Billy was definitely upset about something Jared had done, and that something, it seemed now, had to do with her.
Mattie decided to take Jared up on his offer.
“Would you come with me, Billy?” She walked into the dining room, empty of diners, with him behind her. Quickly, she pulled the curtains closed.
“Has Jared done something he shouldn’t have?”
Billy winced. “It’s not proper for me to say nothing against him.”
Her stomach tightened. So it was true. “I have a right to know the truth, don’t you think?”
“Well…”
“We’ve been friends for a long time, you and I. You know how I count on you, how I value you.”
“Sure thing, Miss Mattie. And I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, everything you’ve been through.”
She stood a little straighter. “Then tell me what Jared has done wrong.”
“Everything? All of it?”
For an instant, Mattie felt lightheaded. Jared had done a great number of things he shouldn’t have?
She steeled herself. “Yes. I want to know everything.”
“Well, if’n you’re sure.” Billy drew in a deep breath. “First off, it was helping them Bishop people. They’d gone an’ run up a bill at the mercantile and hadn’t been paying it. The sheriff and me went out to talk to them, and wouldn’t you know it, he ended up paying for it himself.”
Mattie blinked up at him. “Jared paid the Bishops’ account out of his own pocket?”
“Yes, ma’am, he did. And I just don’t think that’s right. My aunt Frannie says that if’n you make a debt, you ought to pay it yourself,” Billy told her. “And then, on top of that, the sheriff sent me out to the Bishop farm to work for a whole day, and paid that out of his own pocket, to boot.”
Mattie just looked at Billy, not knowing what to say.
“Then,” he continued, “the sheriff came up with this community assistance program of his, but really, it weren’t nothing but an excuse to help you with your chores.”
“Me? Only me?”
“Yes, ma’am. ‘Course now, I ain’t saying you didn’t need the help, things being what they are and all. But when the other businessmen in town complained, the sheriff shamed them into shutting up about it, ’cause you needed the help worse. And most of those men the sheriff arrested weren’t doing all that much wrong. He even arrested Mr. Hopkins one time, claiming he was drunk, when he wasn’t.”
“You think Jared is abusing his authority as sheriff?”
“Well, yeah, sort of.” Billy rubbed his chin. “’Course now, most of the prisoners he gathered up were down on their luck, needing a clean dry place to stay at night, sort of like Mr. Hopkins. Some of them, well, they didn’t hardly want to leave the jail. And the sheriff did find Mr. Hopkins a friend in Mr. Pitney.”
“Jared did that?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am. So, to be fair, I reckon it wasn’t all that bad a thing he did. And to be fair, Sheriff McQuaid don’t cheat with his sheriffing funds. Sometimes old Sheriff Hickert would do that, you know—put a little of the fine money in his pocket that he shouldn’t have. And Sheriff McQuaid has made up with everybody in town. Most everybody, that is, except for Mrs. Pomeroy, but he’s still trying with her.”
“What about his…personal life?”
“Oh, the sheriff ain’t one for carousing around, if you get my meaning, Miss Mattie. He tends to his sheriff duties. He goes down to the Lady Luck every once in a while, but it’s mostly just to check on things.”
Mattie wanted to ask him specifically whether Jared had been to the parlor house, but couldn’t find the words. She inclined her head toward the restaurant’s kitchen. “What about this donation from the Ballard ranch? Did Jared have something to do with it?”
“That’s how come he let Johnny out of jail the last time. He sort of traded Jim Ballard. Food for his boy.”
Mattie sank into one of the dining room chairs.
“You okay, Miss Mattie? You don’t look so good. You want me to get the doctor or something?”
“No, Billy, I’m fine. I just need a little time to think.”
Mattie gazed out the window. She had a lot of things to think about.
Chapter Twenty-One
The crowd lined both sides of Main Street. Children sat on the edge of the boardwalk, some on their father’s sh
oulders. Older boys had climbed onto roofs. A few waved miniature flags they’d bought for a penny, waiting for the parade to start.
Jared moved through the crowds, smiling politely and keeping an eye out for trouble. The Eastern investors had arrived on the morning train and were now seated with the mayor and town council at the grandstand erected just down the street.
So far, things had gone smoothly. The three deputies the council had assigned him had helped out in the past and knew what to do. Jared had given them a few instructions and sent them out to patrol. Billy wasn’t among them; he had too much to do at the Cottonwood. The big supper was tonight.
With all the new people in town for the festivities, trouble was liable to come with them. Pickpockets, con men, thieves. Jared hadn’t seen any problems yet, hadn’t had reports of any, or complaints from citizens. Mostly all he’d done was give directions to the newcomers and answer their questions. Which suited him just fine.
Down the street, Jared saw Billy and the Spencer girls standing in front of the Cottonwood Café, shading their eyes from the sun, waiting to catch a glimpse of the parade when it started.
The Cottonwood had been open for breakfast, but was closed now to decorate the dining room and get ready for tonight’s supper. Jared had gone by this morning and eaten in the kitchen. Thanks to all the visitors to Stanford, business had been brisk.
The restaurant’s door opened and Mattie stepped outside. Jared made his way through the crowd toward her.
“Howdy, Sheriff,” Billy called. He gestured with his hand. “Ain’t this something?”
“It sure is.” Jared smiled at Mattie. “How’s everything going inside?”
She smiled back, and they walked a few feet away from the others. “All on schedule.”
“Are you feeling all right? You’re not overdoing it, are you?”
“I’m fine.”
A few minutes passed while Mattie gazed up at him. She’d been doing that a lot in the last few days—just looking at him. He’d seen her on the street and in the mercantile once, and each time, he’d caught her watching, as if she were studying him, thinking hard about something. Jared didn’t know what.
