by Lilah Rivers
“I imagine you’re looking for another evening with our handsome sheriff?”
Jodi was indeed doing so, and she knew there was no real point to being coy about it. “He really is very charming,” was all Jodi said, and all she felt she needed to say.
“We’ll have him back here to the ranch.” Inspiration seemed to strike Amy, and she glanced at Jodi with her eyes wide and her mouth open. “We should make it a picnic, on a Saturday. We could invite a few others, too, make an afternoon of it.”
That did sound nice to Jodi—another way to make her feel like part of the community, more than just a guest.
“I’ll make some of our cupcakes,” Jodi suggested.
“Your cupcakes,” Amy corrected.
Jodi was about to wave her off, but something got her attention and she looked over. Amy turned and followed Jodi’s line of sight, the two women falling silent.
Amy squinted in the sun. “Looks like… is that Sheriff Covey?”
But Jodi already knew it was. She knew that posture, that figure he cut from virtually any distance. It was the other man who troubled Jodi, also strikingly familiar.
“Oh no,” Jodi muttered under her breath.
“Jodi? What is it? Who is that with the sheriff?”
A lump rose in Jodi’s throat even as her heart started to sink. She and Amy stood up as the two riders approached. Clinton stepping out of the house and called out to Amy, “What’s all this?”
Amy shook her head. “I’m not sure. Jodi?”
“It’s… it’s bad news,” was all Jodi could manage.
They waited, Clinton wrapping his arm around his wife, as the sheriff and Giles approached.
“Sheriff Covey,” Clinton said
Scott nodded as they rode up. “Clinton, Miss Burnett… Miss Hoffman.”
Jodi knew why he was being so formal, and there was little objection she could raise.
Giles looked at her. “Hello, Jodi.”
“Giles,” she replied.
Scott glanced at Jodi, then Giles, and then back; Amy and Clinton were doing the same.
With concern in her voice, Amy asked, “Jodi?”
“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” Jodi said weakly. “This is… um, this is Giles Devlin, from… from back in Providence.” She turned to Giles, “You came upon us unannounced.”
“I realize,” Giles told her, “and I do regret it, but I just had to see you, Jodi.”
Scott said, “Your fiancé here came all the way from the East Coast, so I suppose if there’s nothing else any of you need from me, I’ll be riding back to town.”
“Former fiancé,” Jodi amended.
But Scott was already riding away. He didn’t look back, and the hold it left in Jodi’s stomach felt as if it had been created by a bullet. She wanted to run after him, to stop him from riding away and explain. But the timing couldn’t have been more wrong. Jodi didn’t want to appear to beg Scott, for the sake of how he saw her and himself. But there would be another time, and surely Scott would understand.
I’ll make him understand.
But now, Jodi turned to glare at Giles, Amy and Clinton standing by her side.
“Where’s my cousin Alice,” Jodi asked him, “the love of your life?”
This grabbed the Burnetts’ attention, and Scott’s even more. But he said nothing, watching stoically from atop his horse.
“She’s back in Providence,” Giles explained. “Things between us… they didn’t work out.”
Jodi shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her.
“I should have known they wouldn’t, I don’t know what I was thinking,” continued Giles.“She seemed so vulnerable and needy; I thought I could help her, that she needed it, needed me. ButI needed you, Jodi. I didn’t realize until things were different, but as soon as they were, it became terribly clear.”
“Terribly indeed,” Jodi repeated. “Seems to be your preferred method of handling things.”
Amy said, “You have just as much gall as you ever had, Giles.”
“Amy, I’m… I don’t mean to intrude upon your home. Congratulations, by the way, on your blessed news.”
She didn't answer, one brow raised, arms crossed in front of her chest.
Jodi looked over at Amy. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” Amy kept her glare still fixed on Giles, but Clinton eased her back, his arm around her shoulder.
“Let’s go inside,” he suggested gently,“let them have a moment.”
“No.”
“Amy,” Clinton said with just a bit of sternness. She looked at Jodi, who nodded to reassure Amy that she could and should be left alone with Giles. Clinton led his wife inside, and Jodi turned back to Giles, ready to hear his litany of pathetic excuses and rationale, knowing in her heart that none of it could possibly make a difference.
Chapter 32
Clinton recognized the expression on his wife’s face. Not only did he not want her to over-stress herself, he knew there was a titanic dressing-down about to occur, and he thought he’d spare their unwelcome guest any further embarrassment. While Clinton did not know Jodi Hoffman very well, not as well, he knew her well enough to know she wasn’t likely to have Giles back. Jodi wasn’t like her best friend Amy in every respect, she lacked his wife’s fiery temper. But she’d learned to stand up for herself, and would do so if pushed. Clinton didn’t doubt that.
And he didn’t doubt that Amy would have done a good deal more than stand up for Jodi—she would have defended her to Giles, a scene none of them would want to endure.
It wasn’t until Clinton closed the door behind them that Amy said, “How dare you draw me away from that cad! You know I had a bellyful to share with him!”
“That’s why,” Clinton told her. “I think it’s only right and reasonable that we let Jodi handle this in her own way.”
Amy shook her head. “He has his nerve!”
“I know.”
“First he leaves her for her own cousin! Now he wants her back? Has the man no self-respect at all?”
“You’ll have to search hard to find it.” Clinton glanced out the window at Jodi and Giles, the man still on his horse. “He’s not lacking for brass.”
“I should say not!” Amy took a moment before adding, “What if he charms Jodi into going back with him?”
Clinton gave it some thought and shrugged. “It’s a free country; she can do as she likes.”
“No, Clinton, no! You know Jodi, she’s so sweet and willing to do whatever society seems to demand of her! And he’ll know that, he’ll know her weaknesses better than anybody!”
“And you know her strengths,” Clinton reminded her. “She’s no fool, that’s for sure.”
“The heart makes fools of us all.” Amy shook her head, still watching from behind the curtain. “Look at that toss, that clip.”
“We don’t know that,” Clinton pointed out, pulling Amy into his calming embrace. “The man seems true to his word, even if we can’t quite admire his position. It does take a certain strength to apologize, to admit that he’s made a mistake. A lot of men wouldn’t be able to do even that.”
“Let him take his apologies and go then.” After another moment watching in silent judgement, Amy told him, “I don’t want him spending the night here.”
Clinton was hardly surprised, but he did see instant reasons to object. “Amy, the man just rode in, and just off a trip from Rhode Island—”
“And he can go back there at the earliest possibility, which means this very day!”
“Show a little Christian charity—”
“I’m doing that by remaining silent on the matter!” Amy continued, despite her husband’s sigh, “If she’s unconvinced one way or the other, letting him stay is to give him the chance to corrupt her once again.”
“Corrupt her? What if she truly does love him?”
Amy waved off the idea. “You saw how was when she got here—or maybe you didn’t. But I did, Clinton; she was very mixed up, emo
tionally confused. I know she’ll be prone to that again. It’s not fair, and I’m not going to stand by and watch that man ruin her chance at future happiness.”
“With Sheriff Covey?” He didn’t wait for Amy to confirm it. “Amy, all this matchmaking nonsense—”
“It’s most certainly isn’t nonsense! They belong together, Jodi and Scott, and I think you can see that as clearly as I.”
He raised an eyebrow in resignation. “I do think they make a handsome couple.”
“And you were in on this from the start as well, my fine Mr. Burnett, bringing the sheriff the story of those rustlers.”
“I’m not playing the innocent, Amy, I just feel that there’s a limit to how much anybody can do for another, no matter how good their intentions may be.” He pulled Amy a bit closer. “Jodi’s capable; God is in control.”
“And that man is not spending a single night in my house.” Amy’s voice told Clinton that she did not expect to be contradicted. She gave him a little kiss on the cheek and then stood there resolutely, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Clinton nodded, turned, and opened the front door.
Chapter 33
Jodi stood her ground while Clinton stepped out of the house behind her. He approached slowly, glancing at her with a hopeful expression, asking silently if she was doing all right. Jodi nodded, not needing to say anything more than that.
“Everything all right here?”
Giles replied, “I… I was just trying to impress upon Jodi here the passion of my position.”
“Perhaps it’s not your passion she questions,” Clinton suggested. “In any case, I rather feel that you’ve made whatever point it was you came to make. I’m sure Miss Hoffman would be grateful for some time to digest things.”
“Thank you,” Jodi said, “I would.”
Giles nodded, glancing around. “I… it’s quite a long ride back to town.” He looked behind his horse. “I’m not even sure if I can find my way back, properly.”
Clinton nodded, and Jodi knew the man's better self may yet be her undoing.
Giles went on, “That’s if I can even find my guns, which your sheriff forced me to leave behind.”
“Did he?” Jodi asked curiously.
"Took me for a road agent, it seemed. You all seem to take me for the same thing.”
“I’ll see you back to town,” Clinton offered, “help you collect those guns.”
Giles nodded. “Very well. But thank you for hearing me out, Jodi, I … I hope my words haven't fallen on deaf ears.”
“I’ll get my ride together,” Clinton said, turning for the barn.
Amy stepped up, wrapped her arms around Jodi and, with a cold glare at Giles, turned to lead her friend back into the house.
“Nice seeing you again, Amy,” Giles said, but Amy said nothing and simply closed the door behind them.
Once inside, Jodi’s emotions finally got the better of her. Hot tears pushed out of her eyes and streamed down her cheeks, mouth twisting in a tortured frown. Amy sat her down on the sofa and pulled her in, Jodi burying her face in the nape of Amy’s neck. Memories flashed in the back of her brain; the day Giles told her about Alice back in Providence, the day she went to her cousin and brought away so many conflicting emotions, raising questions that lingered to that very moment and seemed all the more quizzical.
“How could he do this?” Jodi asked, to God as much as Amy. “Just show up like this? Doesn’t he know what this did to me the first time?”
“He may not,” Amy surmised, gently stroking Jodi’s blonde hair. “Maybe he thought you’d be overjoyed to see him, or at least willing to consider.” After a long, awkward pause, Amy asked, “Would you be?Willing to consider, I mean?”
“I… I haven’t even had any time to think about it.”
“Well,” Amy said, head tilting from side to side, “I mean, what’s to think about? He left you, Jodi, for your cousin!”
“That’s true. But Alice has suffered greatly, and she has a way of inspiring people’s protective affections.”
“Then let him marry her,” Amy countered. “And did he? No! Now he’s run off and abandoned her, as well! Think about how poor Alice must feel, and how she’d feel if you went back?”
Jodi sat for a moment, lingering over a single word. “Back?” she repeated, and Amy looked like she was confused, dreading what she already knew Jodi was going to say. “I always assumed I’d go back. I mean, my parents…”
“That’s true,” Amy said, “and they’re wonderful people, but… there are other things, other places, other people.”
Jodi didn't need to think about Amy’s implication for too long. “Scott?”
“Yes, Jodi, Scott! Now there’s a man for you. Tell me you don’t think so.”
Jodi wanted to, she searched for a way to, but she couldn’t.
Seeming to know as well as Jodi did, Amy pressed on, “Why would you turn away from such a good man? Is it because of the badge?”
“Oh, heavens no, Amy, no. I’m proud of Scott for that, but he was obviously upset about Giles turning up, my fiancé…”
“You didn’t tell him about Giles?”
Jodi shook her head. “Not exactly a proper topic for a pleasant dinner conversation; I didn't deliberately not mention it, but—”
Amy shook her head. “Okay, first of all, Scott Covey is a very fair-minded man; at least, that’s the way he strikes me.”
“Oh, me too, very much so.”
“Then he’ll listen, he’ll understand. You didn’t think of Giles as your fiancé when you were with the sheriff?”
“No, Amy, no, but… with?”
“You know what I mean, silly. Listen, this Giles turning up the way he did has nothing to do with you. You weren’t cheating on him; you didn’t run away from your fiancé or anything like that. Scott would have no reason to be angry with you… but you must speak to him about this at once.”
Suddenly nervous, Jodi asked, “Amy—?”
“If he does have the wrong idea, and he very well may, you want to clear it up quickly and easily, that’s all. With both Scott and that Giles in Angeldale together, you can't know what may transpire.”
Jodi’s imagination began to wander, fast and in every direction at once.
Amy continued, “We’ll ride out to see your man directly.”
“No, Amy, you’re in no condition for a ride like that.”
Amy waved her off. “I’m fine!”
“You almost passed out just dusting the furniture, Amy. No, I’m here to see to you and take care of you, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Amy seemed to give it some thought. “Wait, we’ll write a letter to Clinton, see if he can bring the sheriff down to us. He’ll be there with Giles, anyway.”
