“I’m sorry, Roy,” she smiled coyly. “But I can’t allow you to work on impressing me and winning me over.”
“Oh…Well…I…I…I…Uh…” Roy stuttered.
Evelyn brought her finger to Roy’s lips and whispered, “Shhh,” just as he had done to her outside of Jack’s bedroom. “I can’t allow you to work on such things,” she clarified, “because you’ve already accomplished them.”
Roy’s lips curled into a smile beneath her finger, and he leaned forward to embrace her. They held each other tightly for a moment, then pulled apart and left the kitchen.
Evelyn did not return to the nursery that night.
NINE
Over the next few days, Evelyn and Roy seamlessly settled into their married life together, making their union seem not too abrupt and quite natural, after all.
Realizing that the essential duties of her job were done, Mrs. Carey relinquished her role as chaperone and moved back to her own home. Evelyn missed the old gal’s help with the children and chores at first. But she quickly adapted to her absence, as it meant the family was moving on with their lives.
Needless to say, Evelyn and Roy were now sharing a bedroom and treating each other as husband and wife in every meaningful way. And the children were quite happy with this new life. Jack continued to call Roy “Daddy Roy,” and Julie started calling him that, as well.
By all measures, the family was living a splendid life, and, as the days passed, things only promised to get better.
Right around the time Mrs. Carey left the Martin home, the photographer delivered the wedding day photograph he’d taken, in both sizes Roy had requested. When it came time for Roy to submit his application for sheriff to Andrew Sullivan, he included the smaller photograph in his file.
Not surprisingly, he was granted an interview with the magistrate, which was scheduled for a Monday at eight in the morning. He was very excited and nervous, though he was also confident.
The Sunday before the interview, the family went to church as usual. After church, however, Evelyn decided to stay in town to take care of some errands. Concerned over being well-rested and mentally prepared for his interview the next day, Roy opted to return home, and he took the children with him, each of whom showed definite signs of needing a nice long nap.
Those “errands” that Evelyn wanted to take care of were not, in fact, errands, per se. Really, she wanted to get a few items for Roy—namely, a frame for their family photograph, as well as something spiffy, like a tie or a pair of cufflinks, for him to wear on his interview.
She shopped in the town’s general and specialty stores for about two hours before making the aforementioned purchases. She was a picky shopper to begin with, and she wanted to make sure the items she purchased were perfect. Indeed, they were. The frame she selected was no ordinary one. It had two intertwined hearts engraved on its silver surface. And the cufflinks she selected were quite grand, as well. They had tiny red gems set in them, which matched the color of the heart-shaped ruby in her ring.
Pleased with her purchases, Evelyn proudly made her way home. But, as she neared the homestead, something strange occurred. Just before her property, she passed a much older woman riding in a covered carriage. The woman instructed her driver to slow down as they passed, and she craned her long neck out the window.
“Good day, Mrs. Martin,” she said with a grin than made Evelyn doubt the meaning of her words. With that, the woman leaned back in the carriage and barked at her driver to proceed.
Evelyn was a bit confused—and very disturbed—by the incident. She’d been in Red River and, by extension, Fort Smith, for over three weeks now, and, though she’d met many people, she didn’t know this particular woman, and she certainly didn’t like the way she’d spoken to her.
No bother; Evelyn trekked the short remainder of her journey home. When she walked into the house, she found Roy sitting on the couch with his head buried in his hands.
“What’s wrong, my love?” she asked, hiding her gifts behind her back and walking over to him.
He looked up at her with swollen eyes.
“I just had an unexpected visitor,” he said.
“Who?” Evelyn asked curiously. “Was it the older woman I saw traveling in the covered carriage?
“You saw her?” Roy asked, perking to attention. “Did she say or do anything to you?”
“Not really,” Evelyn answered, taking a seat in the chair across from Roy and setting her bag down on the floor beside her. “She merely said ‘Good day’ to me. She did call me by my name, however, even though I don’t know how she knew it.”
Roy nodded, though his gesture didn’t seem too firm.
“What’s wrong?” Evelyn inquired, sensing his unease. “Who was that woman?”
Roy took a deep breath. “That was Mrs. Sullivan,” he sighed.
“Mrs. Sullivan?” Evelyn asked, raising her eyebrows. “The magistrate’s wife? What was she doing here? Did she come round to do an interview of her own?”
“Not exactly,” Roy answered in a tone that caused her concern.
“Then what?” she asked, feeling goosebumps start to rise on her skin. “Why was she here?”
“I need to explain something,” Roy said, staring at Evelyn intently.
She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and nodded, urging him to continue.
“When I was a boy, about twelve or thirteen,” he explained, “I told my mother that I wanted to be a marshal when I grew up. She asked me why I wanted to limit myself to being a marshal, when I had it in me to be a sheriff. She said that justice, order, and the like ran in my blood—and, for the first time ever, she told me something about my father. She told me that he was a ‘lawman,’ and, from that moment on, I wanted nothing more than to follow in his footsteps.
“Several years passed, and I stayed true to my dreams. I studied excessively and scored well in school, and I worked numerous jobs to accumulate a financial savings. When I turned twenty, I took on a desk deputy role at our local station, with the intent to work my way up the ladder until I became sheriff of Fort Smith.
“My mother was very proud of me. But, still, she told me nothing more of my father…until she was lying crippled in her deathbed. A day or so before she passed, she called me to her side and told me the story of how I came to be.
“Some decades ago, she was a secretary in a law office in Fort Smith, where she worked very closely with a young associate attorney. Over time, they became very fond of each other and fell in love. Unfortunately, however, the man was already married and was the father of two little girls.
“But, alas, his status did not stop them from exploring the physical aspects of their love. They wound up having a short-lived affair, which ultimately resulted in my mother becoming pregnant. She loved this man dearly, but she decided to quit her job and keep her pregnancy a secret from him, for she knew that, one way or another, it would destroy him.
“She couldn’t bear the idea of ripping him away from the two children he already had, or of souring their opinion of him. And, what was more, she didn’t want to cause a scandal that would put a black mark on his record. You see, this man—the ‘lawman’ who fathered me—had great career ambitions, and she did not want to squash them. He hoped to one day become the chief magistrate of Fort Smith…and, sure enough, he did.”
“You mean to say…?” Evelyn asked, with a dumbfounded, wide-eyed expression on her face.
“Yes,” Roy interrupted. “Andrew Sullivan is my father.”
“Good heavens!” Evelyn gasped, shaking her head in amazement.
“So,” Roy continued, “now you can see why this job is so important to me. In addition to fulfilling my longtime dream of becoming sheriff of Fort Smith, it also gives me the chance to impress my father and get to know him personally so that, eventually, I can tell him who I am and have him give me the recognition I deserve.”
“He still doesn’t know that you are his?” Evelyn asked, still
piecing everything together.
“Correct,” Roy replied. “All these years, he has remained unaware of my existence. His wife, however, has not. Apparently, she’s known about me for a good many years now…which is why she came to see me today.
“When Mrs. Sullivan learned that I applied for the position of sheriff, she figured it was all part of a ploy to get in my father’s good graces. But, greedy old bat that she is, she assumed that I only wanted to do so to get in on the large inheritance he is sure to leave when he passes. I assured her that this was not the case. Unfortunately, though, she did not appear to believe me.
“She said that she didn’t want a ‘bastard’ like me robbing her two daughters of what was rightfully theirs, and that she’d do whatever it took to stop me from revealing my identity to her husband. She tried to bribe me in order to have me withdraw my application from the pool and leave her husband alone. And, when I rejected her offer of money, she turned to threats. She said that if I didn’t back down and abandon my course, she’d see to it that immeasurable harm came to my family and me.”
“Oh, dear Lord!” Evelyn exclaimed, feeling both unsettled and frightened. “How horrible!”
“I told her that I would not back down,” Roy continued. “And I told her to leave our home immediately, else I, as marshal, would arrest her. She laughed in my face and left promptly, reissuing her threats along the way.”
Evelyn shifted in her seat. Her fear was still there. But, now, it had been joined by anger. “What?” she barked. “You told her that you would not back down?”
“Yes,” Roy confirmed.
“But she threatened you. She said that harm could come to your family…Think of the children!” Evelyn shrilled.
“Ah, she’s just trying to manipulate me, you see,” Roy retorted. “Her threats are—”
“I don’t care what she is trying to do,” Evelyn shouted, interrupting Roy. “If there is any chance that Julie and Jack could be harmed because of this, you must do as she said and back down, at least until it is all sorted through and we figure out some course of action.”
“I will not back down,” Roy said firmly.
“Then you’re saying that this job—that proving yourself to a father who never even knew you—is more important to you than my children?” Evelyn asked, seething.
“I’m not saying that at all,” Roy responded. “But what I am saying is this: Mrs. Sullivan is merely blowing smoke. She’s grasping at straws, and I do not take her threats seriously. I have every intention of going to my interview tomorrow morning, impressing Andrew Sullivan enough to get the job, and one day telling him the truth about who I am. I will not let her deter me.”
Evelyn sprang up from her seat and glared at her husband. “Obviously, your father is not the only one who doesn’t know who you are,” she said coldly. “I don’t know you, either. I thought you were better than this…Yes, I know that you are career-driven, but I never thought you’d put anyone else—especially two innocent young children—in harm’s way to get what you are after.
“You see, husband, more often than not, where there is smoke, there is also fire. And, in this instance, assuming that Mrs. Sullivan’s threats mean nothing is far too risky. We could all get burned because of your assumption.”
“Settle down, Evelyn. You’re making too big a deal of this,” Roy replied, shaking his head plaintively.
“No. I’m not,” Evelyn answered. “And, until you can come to me and tell me that my children are safe from that old bat’s threats, I have nothing more to say to you, Roy Martin.”
She stormed out of the room and went to the nursery, where she locked the door behind her. Roy thought about following her, but he decided against it. He figured that, in time, she would calm down, come to her senses, and return to his favor.
That, however, did not happen. As the hours passed into Sunday evening, Evelyn remained locked in the nursery until the children awoke and needed her attention. Once they were up and active, she came out of the nursery to care for them. But she ignored any efforts Roy made at communicating with her. He did not press things with her, as he did not want to alarm the children and also desired to give her more time to settle down.
When nighttime came, Evelyn put the children to bed by herself, then returned to the nursery, locking the door behind her once again. And, for the first time since they’d officially started living together as man and wife, Roy slept alone in the master bedroom.
The next morning, he awoke bright and early for his interview. But his fight with Evelyn still hung over him like a dark cloud. Nonetheless, he readied himself for the day, determined to do as he’d long intended.
As he got dressed, combed his hair, and grabbed a dry biscuit from the kitchen, Roy half-expected—or fully hoped—that Evelyn would rush out of the nursery to apologize and wish him luck. But, of course, that never happened.
Somewhat deflated, but still determined, he walked across the living room to leave the house. But, along the way, he tripped on something—a bag near the chair. Roy bent down to inspect the bag, and he saw the gifts that Evelyn had purchased for him the day before. Touched by her gesture, he affixed the cufflinks to his sleeves, then took hold of the frame. He smiled as he looked down at it, then carried it over to the bookshelf where he’d set the family photograph for safekeeping.
He carefully inserted the photograph into the frame, and, once it was secure, he gazed at it lovingly before proudly displaying it on the center of the mantle. Then, without further ado, he left the house, mounted his horse, and headed for the magistrate’s office in Fort Smith.
TEN
As Roy made his way to his appointment, he thought about the woman and children he had left back at home. He thought about Evelyn’s beautiful face, beautiful heart, and beautiful soul. He thought about the way Julie had called him “pretty” when they first met nearly a month ago, and about how she giggled so happily whenever he tickled her toes. He thought about playing games with Jack, and about how wonderful it felt the first time he’d called him “Daddy Roy.”
Roy envisioned his wedding photograph in his head, and he recalled the smiling faces they all wore on that day. Then, he thought of how lovely it looked in the frame Evelyn had bought. He recalled how the frame was no simple frame, for it had two intertwined hearts engraved on its surface.
He knew that those hearts represented his life and Evelyn’s life. Though once separate, they were now together; they were two pieces, now joined as one, forming something much greater than either had been before.
It was precisely then that Roy realized what a complete and utter fool he’d been. He’d been so selfish and blinded by achievement that he’d failed to consider everything that was really at stake. Even if there was only a very slim chance that Mrs. Sullivan meant the threats she’d made, that was too much a risk for him to do what he was doing now.
He pulled back the reins on his horse and turned it around, then sped back to his homestead. As it turned out, he was the one who needed to apologize, the one who needed to calm down and come to his senses, and now he needed to get back in Evelyn’s favor and admit how wrong he was.
As Roy approached his homestead, he noticed two horses posted near the outer boundaries. Alarmed by the unexpected sight, he looked around for other things that were out of the ordinary—and, lo and behold, he found some.
He jumped off of his horse and posted it by the others. The he swiftly, stealthily ran between the bushes and the trees, drawing closer to his home. There were two masked men sneaking up to his house, and he needed to stop them before they progressed any further.
Roy hid himself behind a tree and pulled out his pistol, preparing himself for what might come next. “Stop right there!” he shouted. “Go no farther! The house is surrounded, and you’ll be shot if you proceed!”
The two masked men stopped in their tracks and looked around curiously, trying to determine from whence the shouting came. One of them reached into his trousers and p
ulled out a pistol, as well. “Yer bluffin’!” he snickered loudly. “I ain’t seen no one round here…So, whoever you are, yer only one person, and there be two of us!”
Roy’s heart felt heavy. He knew he was outnumbered, but he had to go on with the ruse. “There are men stationed at each corner of this property,” he shouted back. “And they’re not afraid to shoot if you move any closer to the house.”
“Then let ‘em shoot!” the hooligan retorted. “We got a job to do and ain’t leavin’ ‘til it’s done. We been paid a hefty sum to shoot down a lil’ woman and her—”
“Shut up!” the other criminal interrupted. “You ain’t gotta go squealin’ our plans!”
Roy’s heavy heart felt even heavier. Evelyn had been right. There was fire behind the smoke Mrs. Sullivan blew; her threats were real.
The more loose-lipped hooligan started toward the house, and Roy knew he had to act immediately…or else. He stepped out from behind the tree and fired a quick shot at the bloke, which caught him in the back, between the shoulders. He instantly dropped to the ground, presumably dead.
The other criminal reached for his pistol at this point and aimed it straight at Roy, pulling the trigger without so much as a thought. Roy responded quickly and pulled his trigger, as well. The bullets passed each other in the air, and then one hit Roy in the side of the neck, as the other hit the criminal square in the center of his forehead.
The criminal fell to the ground dead, and Roy collapsed, as well. He was still alive, but bleeding profusely. He tried to stand up again, but caved with the slightest effort. He tried to crawl and drag himself toward the house, but it felt as if his body weighed a ton. He tried to call out for help, but he could not speak.
He closed his eyes and envisioned his wedding photograph again. He saw his family’s smiling faces, and the two intertwined hearts. And, then, he saw…nothing. All things faded to black.
New Beginnings Spring 20 Book Box Set Page 68
