by Lilah Rivers
“If you'd been a betting man, I'd have married someone else.”
Clinton nodded. “Even so, with Scott… people are starting to talk.”
“Starting to talk about what?”
He seemed to wrestle with what he had to report next. “About whether he’s really the right man for the job.”
Amy’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Clinton!”
“People are starting to say maybe Doyle was the brains behind the pair the whole time, that Scott’s unfit.”
“And they wanna put that… that boy in the job of sheriff?” When Clinton nodded, Amy went on to deduce, “Then what, they make Scott his deputy?”
Clinton shrugged. “If he’d take the job. He'd be more than qualified.”
Amy slumped a bit, sagging into the mattress. “How humiliating.”
“It really is,” Clinton agreed. “And it’d be a terrible choice for Angeldale.”
“Terrible! That Dooley can’t be the sheriff!”
“Doyle,” Clinton corrected. “But I think you're right. That that the guy’s corrupt or anything, I don't think that.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Oh, Amy—”
“He could be in the mayor’s pocket—there’s a man I’ve never trusted! Maybe he's behind all this rustler business.”
Clinton seemed to give that some thought. “But why would he? Not much profit for a mayor to have rustlers stirring up trouble.”
“If there are any rustlers!” Defiant, Amy crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Clinton set a gentle hand on her arm. “Just try to get some rest. Either way, we don't want these things upsetting you.”
“Well, I'm sorry, Clinton, but I am upset! She's my best friend!”
“I know she is, hon.”
“And he's a good man!”
“I know he is.”
“And they should be together! I know it, I can feel it in my bones, Clinton!”
Clinton nodded reassuringly. “If they're meant to be together, if that's God's will —”
“No, Clinton, we can't just sit back and do nothing. God helps those who help themselves, that’s what I’ve always said.”
“I know, and you're right. But there are limits to what we can do, Amy. God has no limits. And He needs your faith as much as your deeds. Remember, it's not by our deeds but by His grace that we are redeemed.”
Amy sagged a bit further. “I know, but… she needs me.”
“And you're here for her, just like she's here for you.” Clinton gave his wife a little kiss on the forehead. “You're lucky to have one another.”
“No,” Amy corrected him, “not lucky—blessed.”
Chapter 43
Jodi was getting worried. Quietly tending to the garden in the front of the house, it was almost impossible not to be troubled by recent events. She’d enjoyed another few evenings in town with Scott, but things had changed dramatically with the passing weeks. Passersby were no longer returning Scott's glances with smiles or cheerful greetings. More and more, they cast odd glances at him, murmuring under their breath or behind their fans as they walked away, shaking their heads.
And they seemed to glaring at Jodi, too, no longer so impressed with her cupcakes. She felt as if Angeldale’s disapproval of their sheriff was changing their opinion of her. Through she hardly knew any of them, she knew how people could be once they started passing gossip around. The rumor mill could be especially productive, though it could hardly create anything of any worth or value. Rumor mills only took things apart. And her painful experience back in Providence was all the lesson Jodi needed about dealing with friends and neighbors. Even her own lifelong community had been eager to turn their backs on her, to speak of her poorly when not in her company, and to be in her company less and less. And the good people of Angeldale had more reason to be upset with her, at least from their perspective. In Providence, she’d been the subject of pity, but the folks in Angeldale seemed to be blaming her for their sheriff's fall from grace, as if she’d been the Delilah to his Samson and somehow robbed him of his strength and greatness.
Can it be, she wondered, can that be so? I recall Pastor Beaumont reading from the Book of Kings months back, when I’d first arrived. I didn’t think much of it then, but now? I know that God speaks to us through the scripture, through those He calls to serve in His collar and cloth. One has to listen with the ears of the heart and the soul to truly understand. Jesus spoke in parables to challenge His followers, to force them to participate in the great truths He shared.
Faith without works is dead, Jodi had to remind herself.
And when that familiar rider approached the Burnett home, Jodi knew she’d need all her faith in order to resist acting. There were fewer actions Jodi could or would take against Giles Devlin, and her options were fast running out.
He tipped his hat as he rode up, horse huffing beneath him. “Jodi.”
“Mister Devlin,” she responded, as curt and unfriendly as she could be. “Still in Angeldale, I see.”
Giles nodded. "Though not for long, I shouldn't think.”
“Well, I hope you'll take some pleasant memories away with you.”
He chuckled a bit, mostly to himself. “I'll be bringing back a good deal more than that.”
Jodi didn’t even bother to ask. Something told her she wouldn’t have to.
“When we get back to Providence, we’ll have much to tell everyone,” he added.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Though you might find it more comfortable to forget it, leave it all behind you.”
“Speak your piece, Giles.”
Giles climbed down off his horse, leaning closer to Jodi to help make his point. “Don’t you think you're taking this too far?”
“Stop your riddles, Giles!”
“Well, it’s quite plain to see, really—painfully clear,” he rambled on. Jodi just stood there, waiting for him to make his point. “Well, your sheriff’s star is on the wane. Won't be long before they run him out on a rail, I imagine. And surely you're not going to leave me for a common vagrant.”
“He'll never be that,” Jodi retorted, “no matter what happens.”
Giles seemed to consider this. “You're right, of course. A man with his experience and skill set, he could do all kind of things, I suppose. Ride shotgun on a stagecoach, or work the other side of the tracks.”
“Giles!”
“He wouldn’t be the first. Anyway, my only concern would be for you. I mean, imagine every day with him becoming more and more disenchanted, knowing that he had to trade his career for his wife. That he’s bound to reconsider, eventually, as you get older, less… inviting.”
Jodi turned away, but she couldn’t blot out what he was saying either. She turned her head as if to get a new angle, a new perspective on her former intimate. “You… you're responsible for this.”
"For what? How could I convince the whole town that their sheriff is incompetent? You might be angry with me, frustrated, I understand that. But there must be limits to what you're willing to believe, just as there are limits on what I'd be physically able to do!”
Jodi wanted to disagree, to contradict him, but she couldn’t.
“No, it’s not to do with me,” Giles assured her, “and everything to do with him. It’s easy to be impressed; I mean, I know that as well as anybody, but when it comes down to it, maybe he’s not the stalwart Western hero you'd imagined.”
“Oh, Giles, honestly—”
"I'm being quite honest, actually. I wonder if you are willing to do the same—be honest with yourself, I mean. I wonder how true your feelings for this man really are, especially given this new information.”
"None of this gossip means anything to me,” Jodi told him. “I don't change my commitments with every passing wind… unlike others I know.”
"No, I didn’t think you would. And since you still value this man so highly, perhaps even love him—”
“Don't you use
that word with me!”
“That if you feel so strongly about him,” Giles went on, “then you'd want to put his well-being above your own. For whatever reason, since you've arrived, his life has... Well, it's changed, and not for the better, eh? Now, you can always change one thing or another—though I wouldn't have you change a thing—but all this? It’s as if it's taken on a life of its own, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yes,” Jodi repeated, “a life of its own.”
“I don't know about him, but you and I, we're religious people, Christians. That means we're called to a higher purpose in life, understanding God's true desires and doing whatever we must—sacrificing whatever we must—to see that His will be done. In any case, I'm sure that, were you to leave the man in peace, his life would return to normal.”
Jodi had to reflect on his advice, as much as it pained her to do so.
“And if that’s what God wants for him, surely that means He truly does intend for us to be together. It only makes perfect sense!”
“Yet… God works in mysterious ways.”
Giles nodded and glanced around. “How is your friend Amy doing?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Her pregnancy,” Giles clarified. “She was having trouble, wasn’t she? That’s why you came out here in the first place… ostensibly, anyway. But all this stress around you, and around her, it can’t be good for anybody, can it?”
Once again, Jodi wanted to disagree, to contradict, and she searched her heart and soul for some way to do that.
But, once again, she just couldn’t.
Giles smiled meanly. “Wouldn’t be tragic if your selfish obsession with this fairy tale wound up causing the child harm?”
“How dare you?”
“Me? How dare you? I’m not the one endangering my best friend and her unborn child! I’m not the one turning some poor soul’s life upside-down on a whim!”
“It’s not a…” Jodi wanted to finish her thought, and Giles seemed keenly aware that she couldn’t.
He glanced around. “You’ve got a lot to think about, so I’ll take my leave.” Giles climbed back up onto his horse. “Give my best to the Burnetts, if you please.”
Jodi nodded, and Giles tipped his hat and turned his horse.
He didn't bother to say, I’ll be back. He didn't have to. Jodi knew he’d would return, and she already knew she’d have to take action.
Faith without works is dead.
More and more, to Jodi’s horror, she felt she knew what that action was going to have to be.
Chapter 44
Scott was calm, just as Jodi had anticipated. She was almost afraid all those years of keeping his emotions locked up inside might finally come to an eruptive end. If any occasion might inspire such a reaction, that occasion would have been it. And there was also Scott’s reduced position in Angeldale.
After his recent fall from grace, Jodi reasoned and more than once, he might just be pushed over the edge. It was easy to imagine that he may already be so stressed and saddened, another loss might be one more than he could take.
But the end result was unavoidable. The more Jodi had thought it out, the more dreadful sense it made. The more eagerly Jodi searched out another option, the more clear it became that there was no reasonable option—not if she loved Scott, loved Amy, not if she cared at all about that unborn child.
But, of course, all this was not to be explained to Scott. He won’t let me leave under these circumstances, Jodi told herself. He’ll insist on being noble and sacrificing his career. But he loves being a sheriff, and I couldn’t dream of asking him to make that sacrifice. To think of him spending his life digging ditches or some other reduced service to society is heartbreaking. But I know he’ll never let me talk him out of it.
Jodi looked around, biting her lower lip. “I’m just… I wanted you to know that I was leaving. I feel like we’ve established a… a friendship… of sorts.” With a slow blink, Scott nodded, and Jodi had no choice but to go on, “I didn’t to be rude and just leave. You are the sheriff, after all.”
He nodded again, and Jodi wasn’t sure if he agreed that she was being rude, or that rudeness was the extent of his concern.
She wanted to be honest about why she was leaving, even if he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it. But Jodi knew her reasoning was going to invite scrutiny, even… reason. But she just didn’t want to go through it all again. The decision had been difficult enough to come to, and Jodi didn’t want to relive that experience.
He’ll call me superstitious; he’ll challenge my decision. Maybe he’ll be right, but I don’t dare take that chance—there’s too much at risk, for him and for Amy. No, it's best for everyone if I just leave, and with as little conflict as possible.
“The truth is, I miss my parents, much more so than I thought.”
Scott seemed to consider this. “Your parents?”
And it was true, Jodi did miss her parents, so it wasn’t completely a lie, just not completely the truth, either. In the service of a greater good, Jodi pushed on. “I do, yes. I hadn’t counted on that being such a factor.”
It was another truth, because that still wasn’t really a factor at all.
“You’re very close.”
“We are,” Jodi confirmed, “very close. I guess I didn’t realize how close. So I’ll be heading out just as soon as is reasonable.”
Scott sat there, seeming to know there was no point in clarifying her position. But he also didn’t begin to plead with her, to argue every conceivable angle to hold onto her hand and her heart.
“So, um, I really have enjoyed meeting you,” Jodi told him, “getting to know you.”
“I feel the same,” was all he said, words that sent a chill down Jodi’s spine.
“I hope things turn around for you… after I leave, I mean.”
Scott remained seated calmly behind his desk, nodding and staring at her like a statue very nearly come to life. Jodi wanted to shout, Aren't you mad? Aren’t you glad to have your life back? Don’t you feel anything at all?
“Don’t trouble yourself over it, Jodi. I do wish you well back in Providence, of course.”
Are you going to tell me how much you love me, how you can’t live without me?Aren’t you going to convince me, describe the kids we were going to have, the love we were meant to share? You’re not really just going to sit there, are you?
“What about your friend Amy? Her health is improving, I take it?”
Jodi rolled her eyes. “It’ll only get better after I leave, trust me.” And Scott said nothing, as if he agreed; no, Jodi, that’s not true and no, I’m sure that’s not the case.
Maybe I was wrong, Jodi considered. I’d never just have tested you, but if this is the way you react to my leaving, maybe I really don’t belong with you—or here at Angeldale at all.Maybe you really don’t care as much as I thought… or hoped.
Scott stood up and Jodi did the same, following his lead. He walked her across the office. “If there's anything I can do until then,” Scott said, “please do let me know.”
