Betsy’s skirts rustled when she came out of the office, and Jed’s head whipped around to see her. He walked away from the Sheriff and marched to her side. “What took so long? I thought something must have gone wrong.”
“It was fine. He’s very kind and very thorough. He asked a lot of questions. That’s all.”
He took her on his arm. “Let’s get out of here.”
She stopped on the sidewalk outside to catch her breath. “What were you talking to Sheriff Rupert about?”
“Nothing. Let’s go home.”
She didn’t argue until they got halfway down the street. The fresh air soothed her flushed face. All of a sudden, she stopped in her tracks. “Now I need to know what you were talking to the Sheriff about.”
He rounded on her. “It was nothing we haven’t already talked about. He said he had nothing to do with the shoot-out at the Post Office, and I believe him. I assured him you and I have decided to sit on the information you overheard in Merrill’s basement about the treasure. I did tell him we were reporting him and Merrill to the Federal Marshalls about everything else they had done, but I gave him my solemn word we wouldn’t let it go any further than that.”
Betsy shuddered. “This whole thing has gotten so much bigger than I ever expected.”
“Unfortunately, you can’t take back the report you just made.”
“I don’t want to take it back,” she replied. “We’re on this train together, so we better ride it to the end of the line. It’s just not exactly what I signed up for when I answered your ad in the paper.”
“If you ever start to regret that, you tell me,” he returned. “I want to know the minute you change your mind about me.”
“I’ll never change my mind about you,” she replied. “I’ll never regret marrying you. It’s just big, you know. I never thought I’d be in this situation.”
Jed sighed. “I never thought I’d be in this situation, either. I would give anything to spare you from this. I really would. I never thought when I married you that I’d live to see you kidnapped and threatened and manhandled by that foul-breathed Sheriff and his cronies.”
“Never mind,” she soothed. “It happened, and now we’ll make the best of it. The good news is, we’ll do it together.”
“Right. Let’s go. We’re late for lunch.”
They went home to the forge. Betsy served them both a lunch of cold meat and cheese. She left the door standing open where they could look out through the forge itself to the corrals beyond. Horses stamped out there in the heat.
At last, Betsy broke the silence. “Marshall Faulk agrees with you.”
“He does?” Jed asked.
“He agrees that we shouldn’t go broadcasting to the whole town about Martha finding the treasure. He agrees with you about keeping it quiet.”
“Well, that’s a mercy,” Jed exclaimed. “I was beginning to question if it was the right decision. It’s nice someone higher up the chain of command agrees.”
“He said we don’t actually know if it’s true,” Betsy went on. “We have only an admission of Merrill’s motive for killing Martha.”
“Why would he kill her if there was no treasure?” Jed countered. “That makes no sense.”
“I’m only telling you what the Marshall told me.”
Jed stared through the door for a while.
“Are you okay, darlin’?” Betsy asked. “I hope I didn’t upset you.”
“I was thinking about Kelvin.” Jed snorted. “Imagine him getting a mail order bride.”
“I think he’ll make an outstanding husband,” Betsy remarked. “He’s such a nice young man.”
“Oh, he is,” Jed replied. “I suppose it’s just a matter of time before all these men get hitched. This town’ll be a different place with women around.”
“I don’t know,” Betsy returned. “Some of these men seem pretty happy to live on their own for the rest of their lives.”
He drew her into his lap. “They don’t know what they’re missing.”
He kissed her, and she relaxed against his chest. While they rocked in blissful delight, a clap of thunder boomed through the skies and rain began to fall outside. The soothing drum of pattering droplets came through the open door and brought a welcome breath of cool air with it.
Betsy drifted out of another magical kiss, and she and Jed gazed through the door at the world outside. She hugged his head against her breast, and his one good arm circled her waist.
This beautiful world held so many delights, now that her heart rested in his embrace. Not all the horrors and crimes wicked men might think up could dampen her joy at this moment. Whatever the future held, she welcomed it as long as she held him in her arms.
The End.
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The Blacksmith's Bride (Brides 0f Brimstone Book 1) Page 10
