A Love to Heal a Broken Heart: An Inspirational Historical Western Romance Book

by Lilah Rivers

  As a public servant, Jodi thought. I guess that’s really the way it’s always been; your investigation, my schoolgirl crush—my God… could Giles have been right?

  Chapter 45

  Scott watched as Jodi Hoffman stepped out of his office and out of his life. He stood by the window and watched her fade into the crowd, pedestrians passing one way and the other between them, obscuring the view. But she stopped and turned, glancing at him from the corner of her eye, before turning again and walking down the street, further and further from him.

  And that’s that, he thought, a cold knot tightening in his gut. Her parents? Did Jodi really think I believed that? She hardly spoke of them, now she has to get back to them with such urgency? Foolishness!

  One thing Scott found gratifying was that Jodi wasn’t a better liar, she was clearly unpracticed in the art of deceit.

  But she was still lying, and the question which plagued him was of the truth behind her lie.

  She’s not in love with that bounder, Scott knew, she’d never stoop so low. And while I’m sure she loves her parents, I know that’s not the cause of her flight, either. Did she say something about her friend’s health? Is there a problem there? Could be, though I can’t imagine Jodi’s presence with her friend is antagonistic. I’m sure this business with her ex can be frustrating and maybe upsetting, but there are other ways to deal with it. Would she really change her life just to remove herself from her friend’s company? She wouldn’t have to lie to me if that were the case, why would she think that? I’d be there to help her anyway I could. Together we’d think of something, if that was what she really wanted.

  But clearly, it’s not. And the more Scott reflected on it, the more he knew why that was. She sees me as the failure I’ve become. I’ve disappointed her, disillusioned her. And that’s just as well, I suppose. If she truly was deluded, that was never something I wanted. I never presented myself as anything other than what I was. I only wanted her love for the poor fool that I am, and nothing more. But the trappings of the office, the glamor of the badge, the gun; she wouldn’t be the same to get carried away.

  If she ever truly was, Scott had to admit to himself. She may have been interested or curious, but she doesn't seem that way now. And I can’t blame her. If my friends and neighbors of all these years are ready to turn against me, why not a young woman I barely know? I’m sure their reactions didn’t do me any good in her eyes. Were it just she and I, perhaps it would have been different, but I’m a sheriff and the people I serve are a necessary part of my life. Certainly, that would affect her, as well. It's just the nature of life; another fact of the job I hoped wouldn't be insurmountable.

  But I should have known—a sheriff’s life is complicated, fraught with peril and complexity and probably best served by a man without family ties. Still, that hardly matters now.

  Scott looked out the window at the disinterested pedestrians walking by.

  They’re my only family now, he realized. That's the way it's always been and the way it’ll always be. Next time, I’ll know better.

  Scott’s focus was interrupted by the sight of Doyle approaching from across the street. He turned away and stepped back toward his desk as the door opened behind him. Doyle’s limp was almost gone, boot heels clacking evenly on the pine floorboards beneath them.

  “Scott.”

  “Doyle.”

  Doyle stepped up and poured himself a cup of coffee. “S’quiet out there,” he remarked.

  Scott nodded. “In here, too.”

  A stilted silence passed between them. Doyle asked, “Doin’ your rounds?”

  Scott let that sink in for a minute. “Anything else on your to-do list I’m behind on… Deputy?”

  Doyle cracked a little smile. “Just trying to keep things running smoothly, Scott. I mean, one of us has to.”

  Scott felt sure Doyle was trying to goad him into a fight, another way to win the sympathy of the average Angeldale citizen and put Scott one step closer to being tarred and feathered.

  It’s a good ploy, Scott knew, more keen-minded than I would have expected. Perhaps I underestimated Doyle, or maybe he’s developing at a faster rate than I could have imagined.

  “Leg’s healing up,” Scott noted.

  Doyle smiled nervously. “Yeah, I got lucky, missed the bone.”

  “Major arteries, too,” Scott added, thinking out loud. “That is lucky.”

  Doyle nodded. “Makes me think we should get another sawbones into Angeldale. Think about that poor Mrs. Burnett. She needs a proper doc.”

  Scott said, “We’re running ads to New York and Boston. Someone’ll come out.”

  Doyle sighed as he seemed to consider, taking a sip of coffee. “Let’s hope so. Else we’ll have to take a new approach.”

  “A new approach?”

  “That’s right, Scott… Things around here have been, well, they’ve been lax.”

  “Lax? On my watch?”

  Doyle rolled his eyes. “Let’s not go through this, Scott. I always thought you were overlooking too much, and look what’s happened! This town needs a tighter rein. Your way… I dunno, maybe somewhere else, but it just hasn’t served Angeldale well, has it? I’m living proof—lucky to be living, anyway.”

  Scott stared his deputy down, little room left to wonder what the younger man was up to. But he didn’t want to reveal anything of what he was thinking, at least not until he knew what that was himself. Finally, Scott said simply, “Think I’ll go out, do my rounds.”

  As he stepped out, Doyle responded, “Yeah, you do that.”

  Chapter 46

  Clinton rode into Angeldale the next day. He didn’t think it would be too hard to find Giles Devlin, and he was right; the man was gambling in the Cactus Rose saloon. Clinton sat down next to him at the table, squinting through the clouds of smoke, the stink of beer and bourbon heavy in his nostrils.

  “Burnett,” Giles said, “surprised to find you here. Your wife know you like to gamble?”

  “I don’t,” Clinton told him. “I’m not here for that.”

  Giles turned and looked Clinton up and down. Clinton knew Giles was reading him rightly; Clinton made no bones about the purpose of his visit.

  “Let’s take a walk,” he suggested.

  Giles huffed. “So you can have me bushwhacked out behind the saloon? Ride me out on a rail, is that your idea? Or do I wind up in a hole you or your ranch hands have already dug? Not that little Mexican, of course… too lazy, I’d think, or too stupid—or both.”

  Clinton’s arms reached out from his sides, fists wrapping around Giles’ lapels to turn him until the men were face to face.

  “Ready to strike me here and now,” Giles taunted with a little smile. “That’ll do a lot for your reputation, as if my fiancé hasn’t done that enough!” Clinton stared hard into Giles’ eyes as the man went on, “Harboring the woman who tainted your sheriff? You should thank me for pulling her out of your midst! Because that’s what this is—you’re here to force my hand, so to speak.”

  “She doesn't want to leave,” Clinton retorted.

  “It’s her choice and she’s making it freely. Whatever would you think it has to do with me?”

  “Don’t play your sassy little games with me, Devlin, or—”

  “Or what? A public threat… on my life?” Giles looked around the saloon, conversations humming around them. “If I should meet any misfortune, let it be known that this man, this Clinton Burnett, just threatened me with murder!”

  Clinton knew Giles had him bettered, at least to an extent. Giles wouldn’t be physically intimidated, Clinton knew that, though that had never been his intention.

  “I don’t take you for that sort of man,” Clinton lied, “one to be scared off a thing, not when he knows he’s right.”

  But Giles seemed unmoved by the flattery. Instead, he sat there waiting, looking Clinton up and down.

  “No, one look at you told me you were a businessman,” Clinton continued.“I tho
ught perhaps you might appreciate a… a different kind of approach.”

  Giles looked him over again, glancing at the dealer before returning his attention to Clinton. “Make your offer.”

  “Five percent of my ranch, net, for every year Jodi does not hear from you—other than family reunions with your wife, her cousin.”

  Giles took in the offer. “You’d buy or sell a human life? Why, Mr. Burnett, I took you for a different kind of man altogether. Just goes to show that one never does know.”

  “I’m making no such offer. She’ll be free to go wherever and do whatever she pleases. This is a business transaction, offering you partnership in exchange for stipulations, that’s all.”

  Giles seemed to be giving the matter serious consideration. “Your wife agrees?”

  But Clinton’s expression was unmoving. “You’ve heard my offer.”

  Giles’ eyes shifted to the cards on the table, then to the dealer.

  The dealer asked him, “In or out, pal?”

  Giles looked back at Clinton. “Five percent… gross.”

  Clinton shook his head. “Can’t afford that.”

  “Then perhaps you’re in the wrong business.”

  “Perhaps you’re in the wrong state!”

  “A condition I mean to remedy at the earliest convenience! Let me explain something to you, Mr. Burnett. I’ve come a long way, and I’ve a long way yet to go. I didn’t go through all that, past and present and future, to be short-sold by some glorified cowboy. Now, you may eat and breathe pure righteousness, but to me, you and this whole place stinks like a stable. You wanna wipe my boots clean? It’ll take a lot more than you’re offering.”

  Though Clinton stared him down, Giles only smiled back. “Nothing more, Mr. Burnett?”

  Clinton had to bite back on his anger, and his pride. “Seven percent net.”

  “Seven gross.”

  “Seven— ?” It was clear to Clinton then that Giles was not negotiating in good faith, that he wasn’t likely to honorably abide by any agreement in any case. Giles offered up only that same smug little grin, with a cocky tilt of his head.

  “Nothing more?”

  “No,” Clinton replied through his snarl, “nothing more.”

  He was glad to step away from that poker table, that man, out of that place. But he knew he was heading back empty handed, and the results of that would be heartbreaking—for his wife, for her friend, for their sheriff, and for himself.

  Chapter 47

  Amy held both of Jodi’s hands, squeezing tight. “Are you sure about this, honey?”

  Jodi had to nod, even if she didn’t really want to. “What if these spells of yours do have something to do with me? It’s too important, Amy. And there’s really nothing I can do to help you out around here, not really.”

  “Just being here—”

  Jodi offered a bittersweet smile. “No, Amy, just being here feels like it’s doing more harm than good. All this craziness—”

  “But there are other ways of dealing with that. Tell Scott, go back to him and—”

  “I’ve told Scott, he doesn’t care.” Jodi shook her head, staring sadly off into the distance. “I think he’s glad to see me gone, and I’m not sure I blame him. I’ve hurt him worse than anyone.”

  “Don’t you believe it,” Amy scolded, looking around the crowded train station. “Where is Clinton with that porter? I can’t believe you’re leaving me with him!”

  “Him? Clinton is a most-capable man, you know that.”

  “I know, but… he’s not you. Won’t you reconsider staying?”

  “I should probably step aside and make way for somebody more qualified—and that would be anybody, really.” After a sad pause, Jodi went on, “When I get back, you’ll keep me posted. Once the baby’s born, I’ll… we’ll come back out, and everything will have worked out splendidly.”

  The moment lingered, swirling around them like a bad odor. Amy repeated, “We? Are you sure about this, Amy? I mean, even if you choose not to stay here—”

  “He came all this way to get me, Amy. Scott would barely stand up from behind his desk.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t know, or isn’t sure—?”

  “Well, at least Giles is sure! And it’s true, we all make mistakes, after all.”

  Amy bit her lip, eyes shrewd and shifting as she clearly thought things through. “What about your cousin? He broke her heart!”

  Jodi nodded. “I know, I… we discussed that. He said she never threw any kind of fit or anything. So maybe she doesn’t really care. Maybe she doesn’t really love him anyway, or she’s found somebody else.”

  “Somebody else? Your cousin? Alice? Jodi, a lot of men back in Providence consider her bad luck, cursed, you know that. All her misfortune, nobody wants to marry into that. I was surprised to hear Giles did!”

  “Because it’s foolishness, of course.”

  “Well, you and I know that, but—”

  “I will see to Alice when I get back, Amy… all the more reason that I do go. She is my cousin, after all, family.”

  “But what about the humiliation for her? You remember how bad it was for you, and you had your parents, their reputation. What will she have to shelter her?”

  Jodi had thought about it, and she knew her friend Amy’s concerns were well-founded. Jodi told Amy what she’d told herself in silent, private deliberation.

  “She’ll have me,” was all Jodi said and all she needed to say.

  Clinton arrived behind them with a black porter in a red jacket, wheeling Jodi’s trunk on a metal cart. The porter paused behind him and Clinton glanced around, then checked his pocket watch.

  Amy asked, “Everything okay?”

  “Well, we’re quite early for the train, but… I just want to make sure it hasn’t already come and gone.”

  “An hour ahead of schedule?” Amy sounded confused“You’re acting so strangely today, Clinton.”

  He shrugged. “It’s a sorry day.” Amy nodded, then clung to him. “You’re sure you won’t reconsider?”

  Jodi had to shake her head, hoping he'd know that she would if she only dared.

  But she didn't.

  “What if I were to tell you that—?” he pressed, but Jodi just put her hand on Clinton's arm, quieting him. There was no point in going on, and only greater pain and sorrow to be found on the other side.

  Giles approached with his own bags. He said to Clinton, “There you are! You fetched this porter and left me carrying these?”

  “Oh,” Clinton said with a casual smile, “did I?”

  Giles shook his head and dropped the bags onto the trunk. He looked around. “Why are we here so early? I’ve no interest in standing around here for another hour!”

  Amy suggested, “Then why not sit down? That should quiet you.”

  Jodi smiled, enjoying Amy’s little joke, mean and fairly crass though it was.

  Giles smiled and nodded to himself just a bit. “All right, well, in spite of everything, I hope someday you’ll come to feel differently about me. That will take time, for Jodi as much as for you, I know that. But just wait, you'll see; you’ll get reports of your friend never having been happier, and we know they'll find you both just as well and well-off.”