by Annie Boone
She gasped out loud and stared at the fallen figure. But it didn’t stop Lucas as it didn’t stop the other men. Immediately they carried on the fight, fists swinging and feet dancing. Another went down, leaving one man standing besides Lucas.
“Now listen. You just go on home now. Your friends here will wake up and get on their way, too. Unless the sheriff comes along. Maybe he’ll take ‘em in, maybe he won’t. Either way, you’ll be in the clear if you leave now.”
The man turned and walked away with slumped shoulders and a slight limp.
Susannah stared incredulously, and couldn’t find anything to say when Lucas returned. The fight was finished, but his knuckles were bleeding.
“Here we go,” he murmured, and started them off again as though nothing had happened. They were quiet all the way back to the boarding house as she tried to find something to say, but she couldn’t. Her throat only tightened as he led her to the doors. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” Lucas glanced away. “They were little rowdy.”
“I see,” she murmured. “Well, you need a cold cloth on those knuckles.”
That made him smile. “Aww, they’ll be fine. I’ll be sure to stick them in a pile of snow now and again,” Lucas offered. “I’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll pick you up at mid-day?”
She nodded, and he was gone. Susannah decided he must not get in fights all that often, and decided to let it go. She wasn’t sure what the life of a sheriff was like in these parts. Back home, there was more than a handful of lawmen, so order was easier to keep.
When he returned the next day, they had lunch at the same restaurant where they’d met. The place she’d needed help with the notorious Mr. Minks. She sat across the table from him fidgeting a bit, hoping he didn’t notice. At first, their conversation was halting and formal, but they ignored it as they started planning a wedding date.
He led her outside and around the corner to where he’d left the borrowed buggy. He helped her in and moved around to sit beside her. “I’ll take the long way back to the boarding house so you can see more of the lovely area you’ve come to live in.”
She nodded and smiled, looking forward to the time to see her surroundings better. More than that, she looked forward to spending more time with Lucas. She realized she like him and wanted to know more about him.
“So, I’ll talk to the pastor tomorrow,” Lucas promised her, and shared another one of those brief smiles. They continued down the road that took them to the edge of town.
She nodded, trying not to shiver as they stuck to the path near the mountains. “Good, that would be lovely. Hopefully the sun will shine.”
Overhead, an eagle cried out, flapping its wings. “I’m sure it—” but he never finished the sentence as he suddenly gripped her arm tightly as he stared into the trees. The man’s entire body had stiffened, and Susannah looked around for trouble.
“Is something wrong?”
“Shh!”
The man appeared to listen for something, but she couldn’t hear a thing. His grip only tightened, and she didn’t recognize the strange expression on his face. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to understand what was going on, but she didn’t. It was a strange place, with a strange man, who was acting strange. “They’re coming.”
“What? Who?” Squinting, she looked for something and her breath caught. But it was nature, the trees. What was there to see? She swallowed, her heartbeat only growing louder. “Um, Lucas? My arm—you’re hurting me. Let go. Please?”
But he didn’t appear to hear her, as he pulled her out of the buggy and started tugging her downhill, crouching and watching his steps as he went. An inkling of fear trickled down her spine and her chin quivered. “Keep your head low, and stop talking. We’ll cross the river so they lose our scent. Faster, Ralph, or—”
“Who’s Ralph?” Her shaky breath frosted in front of her and she ran into it at the pace he was trying to pull her. Though Susannah protested, Lucas was much stronger and was practically dragging her. “Lucas Jessup! No, stop this!” Being gentle wasn’t going to get her what she wanted apparently, so she tried more loudly. “Stop!”
It did the trick. Lucas stepped awkwardly on a rock and they both stumbled. He caught them just in time, and the man’s eyes widened as he looked like he just woke up. With a haggard expression, Lucas gaped at her looking as confused as she was.
Pursing her lips, she yanked her arm free, certain that his fingers would leave a mark. Without saying anything, Susannah turned and started walking. The town was just over the hill, and she was returning to it. Glancing at her hands, she found they were shaking and felt it all the way to her chilled bones.
“Susannah? Susannah!”
The shock must have taken some time to wear off. Or whatever it was. All she knew was that it had scared her, and she hadn’t liked it one bit. Wrapping her arms around herself, she ignored Lucas and asked the Lord if He was making a joke of her, or if she had understood Him wrong.
“Wait.” A second later, his arm grabbed hers and she flinched, pulling away. He let her go.
Susannah opened her mouth to say something, but that cold look in his eyes from a moment ago, that had terrified her, and it was all she could picture. As she tried to step away, Susannah slipped and fell in the snow.
Lucas knelt to lend a hand. “Here, let me—”
“Don’t touch me,” she ordered firmly. Shivering, she tightened her grip around herself and looked away. Taking a deep breath, the young woman searched for something to say though she could feel the cold wetness from the snow creeping through her clothes.
“Miss Susannah, let me help you.”
Biting her tongue, she refused to give in. “No. You scared me, and I don’t want you touching me. I don’t know this Ralph person and I don’t see a river anywhere around here. So…”
The hand he had opened up to her suddenly tightened into a fist which formed a knot in her stomach immediately. A sudden dread filled her, wondering if this is where she would die. If he would beat her senseless. But Lucas sighed and sat down in the snow beside her, not caring about the dampness either.
“Joshua Ralph,” he told her. “is my friend. He’s another Ranger. This, um, sort of incident has only happened once before. I have heard that others have… experienced this as well. Rangers live a hard, dangerous life that’s hard to leave behind. Even mentally. I don’t know what it is, but I hear that it could be anything that sends me back. A smell, a touch, the sound of a gunshot. When it happened before it wasn’t quite like that.”
She scoffed. “You make it sound so simple.”
He didn’t smile. “I guess we don’t always have a choice about what comes our way. You face it head on, come what may.”
After a minute, Susannah bit her lip and glanced at him. There was another look in his eyes, a musing one that made him look older. He hadn’t liked what had happened to himself either. It didn’t matter, she decided, and she focused on his eyes now instead of his scar. “I like that,” she said finally.
“My parents told me that once,” he sighed.
Nodding, she looked down at the space between them and wondered why it suddenly felt so spacious. “It doesn’t happen often?”
“Only once before. I woke up in the middle of the night, listening for an ambush.”
Then he was silent. It surprised her that he didn’t try to make promises, to tell her that it would never happen again. Most would do that, even if it wasn’t true. Lucas proclaimed honesty was a virtue, and it seemed he certainly kept to it.
Could she? Biting her lip, Susannah glanced around. It was rather pretty, she admitted, and hoped that Rocky Ridge looked like this as well. He promised they would go there soon, only that it was without a boarding house or hotel yet which is why she stayed there. Biting her lip, Susannah felt herself giving in.
“All right. I’m ready to go back,” she announced, and pulled herself out of the pile of snow. It was difficult, but she refused any help as she climbed ont
o her two feet and shook the damp powder from her clothes. Lucas straightened up beside her and they started walking together back to the buggy.
It was quiet, but decidedly peaceful. Susannah used the time to weigh her decision. In two days they were supposed to be wed. Was this a life she could promise herself to? It wasn’t what she had expected. But then again, nothing was what she expected.
The thing was, she realized when they reached town, she already had an answer. Boston was already a place in her past, and Colorado was exactly where she wanted to be. Whether it was Colorado Springs or Rocky Ridge or somewhere new, Susannah could feel it in her heart that she had to be here. Though she questioned the Lord’s way, she would still listen and be obedient.
“Would you eat supper with me?”
Her eyes flickered towards the setting sun. “It’s getting late, and I think you should go. But don’t be late on Friday,” she added when he started to turn away. When Lucas glanced back, she managed a hesitant smile. “And bring me those flowers you told me about, will you? I’d like to wear one in my hair.”
Though his lips didn’t move, she saw his eyes crinkle up. They turned soft, deep as damp earth after a good rain. Pain was there, Susannah noticed, but so was hope. “I’ll do just that. Friday, then.”
She nodded and as usual, she watched him walk away. Her chest grew tight, and she wondered if that was normal. It would take a few years, but Susannah would discover the answer was yes, it was normal. Even though Lucas swore the job of watching over their town and area was safe, it still invited recklessness and occasional danger.
Being a lawman’s wife might take some getting used to.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The young bride was reminded that it might take patience to be married to a man like Lucas on her wedding day. She’d put on her nicest dress and pulled out the veil her mother had given her. Upon her arrival at the little chapel, she was met by the pastor and they waited quietly together for Lucas.
Her husband-to-be was an hour late, and she’d decided it wasn’t meant to be. He wasn’t coming. Not sure what she’d do next, she knew God would help her figure something out. Worry and frustration and finally anger had ruined a day she’d hoped would be a happy one. She was putting on her coat and hat when the large doors burst open and two stragglers arrived.
Two men, one keeping the other one up. They’d been talking loudly but fell silent as they stepped inside and found her blocking their way. She blinked against the sunlight they brought in behind them, unable to tell if either was the man she’d been waiting for. She took a step backward.
“Susie?” It was the first time he’d called her that, and it made her heart pound. So he was the one being kept on his feet by the other man. “Ralph, this is Susie.”
Clearing her throat, Susannah gave them measured looks. It appeared they were both injured. The other man he called Ralph might have been keeping her man on his feet, but he was favoring a shoulder. She could feel their grins.
“You’re an hour late to your own wedding, and you want to introduce me to someone?” She’d been raised to be polite, but she’d had enough of this. Shaking her head, she started to button her coat. “This is ridiculous. I can’t believe anyone would be so—”
“There was a situation. We would have been here on time if we could have been. You wouldn’t leave me at the altar, would you?” Lucas sounded more jovial and it made her wonder if he was drunk.
“Certainly looks like you were leaving me,” she snapped and then took a deep breath as she straightened her skirts. “We had an agreement and it looks like you changed your mind. I would have preferred more clear communication.”
Lucas tugged himself free of his friend, Ralph, and put out an arm. He swayed, and grabbed for a bench that he leaned against. Clearing his throat, the man took a slow and deep breath. “You’re correct, we did have an agreement. And I apologize for not being able to be here on time, as I had told you. My good friend from the Rangers, Joshua Ralph, arrived by train and I wanted him to be here for this special occasion.”
Ralph smiled sheepishly, and closed the doors behind them with his good arm. Her gaze drifted back to Lucas where she found his left pant leg was slightly ripped, and bleeding. So that’s what she had smelled.
“We were on our way over here, however, when we came across an old…”
“He’s not a friend,” Ralph shook his head. “Not quite an enemy either.”
“Foe?”
“Er, acquaintance?”
“Yeah, that might work.”
Susannah cleared her throat and Lucas continued. “Thing is, he was cheating some men out of their money and they were trying to have a shootout right by the station. We tried to talk to them, but they wouldn’t listen.”
Ralph backed up the story. “Marius McConnel was supposed to be rotting in a Texas prison cell. Pardon the language, ma’am, but we couldn’t stand by and let anyone else get hurt. Well, besides Lucas. But he always was foolhardy.” The two of them chuckled as though it were an inside joke. But stopped when they looked at her face. “I’ll go see the pastor,” Ralph stepped away to give them a minute.
As she tried to process her thoughts and emotions, Lucas attempted to straighten up. He was dressed in a suit she hadn’t seen before, one with a nice vest and jacket. It was a shame that the pants were ruined. And why did his friend use that word, foolhardy? Did this mean it would be normal, finding her husband staggering home whenever he felt like causing trouble?
“Susannah,” he limped forward and took one of her hands. She didn’t protest, but she didn’t look him in the eye either. Even though she knew it mattered to him and he tried to make their gazes meet. “Please, Susannah Tumlin. I would never have tried to… I was trouble, as a Ranger, I’ll admit. I ran into enemy fire whenever I liked, just because I could. But that’s not that way any more.”
A knot formed in her throat. “Are you sure about that?”
His hand squeezed hers. “I left the service because I didn’t want to die young. I left so I could buy some land, and start a family. They asked me to be sheriff for Rocky Ridge because they knew I would do my best and hardest to protect the town… and the nearby areas when necessary,” he added after a second and took a deep breath. “This happens sometimes. Not usually so often, but it does happen.”
“Is that what you want?” She asked dully. “To come home to a family, all banged up?”
He frowned. “Of course not. I told you, my family comes first. You will come first. If… if it matters this much, if you really want,” he took a deep breath, “I’ll quit.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up to meet his gaze. She searched his eyes and as usual, found truth. He meant it. And for a minute, Susannah wanted to say yes, to accept this bargain and ensure his safety. But as her mouth opened, she knew she couldn’t do that to him. Lucas liked his job, and she had already accepted his way of life by coming to him.
“Don’t,” she said in resignation. “Just promise to be more careful. And on time to other important engagements.”
He grinned, showing off those sharp cheekbones of his. She was fairly certain, even in this lighting, he had a bruise forming on the right side, right beside that scar. His unruly hair flopped into his face, but it glinted in the light with oils that he must have tried to use to flatten it down. It made her chest tight but she tried to loosen her insides and relax. “I can do that,” he assured her, and put out his arm.
First, she took off her hat and then her jacket. Then she rolled her eyes at his arm and wrapped it around her neck, offering herself as a crutch to help him down the aisle. At first the man protested, but one stern look shut him up. It made her smile as Lucas grumbled under his breath, and she decided they would make things work out just fine.
Joshua Ralph cheered them on, and took over for her so that she could stand across from her fiancé. As the pastor spoke, Lucas slipped a hand into his jacket pocket, and drew forth a slightly wilted blue columbi
ne flower. It was as pretty as he had told her, and she smiled, sticking it in her hair to the side of her temple.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the pastor proclaimed. “Good sir, you may kiss your bride.”
And Lucas did. It made Susannah blush bright red, but she immediately discovered that kissing was just as delightful as she’d heard, and the way he touched her around the waist was nice, too. Maybe this would work out, after all.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Rocky Ridge, Colorado; 1882
“You were a mess,” Susannah giggled as they settled in for the evening. “Why, I’m still amazed sometimes that I actually said yes. You were terrible, Lucas. No girl in her right mind would have ever gone through with it.”
She heard him chuckle as he made sure the fire was out. “That’s why I knew I couldn’t marry just any girl, of course.” Then he came up behind her and kissed her cheek, catching her by surprise. It made her jump, furious for not having heard him. He was still as stealthy as a mountain cat.
“That’s why I got you.”
Though she swatted at him, he was already out of reach pulling the last of the curtains together. Susannah put the towels away in the cupboard, but paused when she touched the soft crocheted blanket in the back. Immediately she knew what it was. It was a small blanket, one that had never been finished. Susannah froze, having thought that it had been thrown out long ago.
Lucas said something, but she didn’t hear him. Eventually he walked over, and found what she was staring at. Reaching in, her husband pulled out the unfinished blanket, and they stared at it together.
In the silence, it reminded them too loudly of what they didn’t have. What they would never have, Susannah corrected herself. Something gnawed inside at her heart, bringing back pain and fear that she thought had been put away for good. “Where did it come from?” She whispered.
“I thought we had passed everything along.”
