Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
The only upside to this little excursion was Violet being nestled against him as they rode Jake to the cabin the town provided for the resident lawman.
He’d never seen it, even though he knew it existed.
They’d offered it to him when he moved to town, but he didn’t have any use for it.
The little room behind the jail suited his needs just fine.
Ewan insisted Violet ride out with him even though there was room in the wagon with him and Daisy.
The look the old man gave him told him he was purposely making sure they rode together.
Hell, showing them the cabin this morning was probably the old man’s doing, too.
After the talk they’d had two nights ago, he’d bet money on it.
He’d started home after their talk, wondering if Violet would show up and hated to admit how hard his heart had thumped when he saw Ewan escorting her down the front steps of their house and marching her down the street.
The man was determined their fake marriage was going to be as real as it could be, even if he had to force the issue, which he was doing this morning.
The little cabin came into view not far from town. As many times as he’d been up and down this road, he’d never seen it. Trees lined the road in front of it and it was so grown up around it with grass and bushes, he’d be surprised if it was even worth living in.
They made their way through the trees and overgrown bushes to the front of the house. Violet and Daisy led the way once he helped her from the horse, both women smiling and talking softly amongst themselves.
Violet stepped up onto the porch and turned back to them. “Is it safe to go inside?”
“Yes,” Tanner said. “I was in there yesterday making sure there weren’t any leaks or anything. It’s still sturdy. It just needs cleaning.”
“We’ll clear out all the weeds and bushes,” Clay said. “And cut the trees by the road. It won’t take long to have it livable.”
Clay being there made more sense now. He was the town go-to guy when you needed something done. It made sense that he’d tagged along.
He followed Violet and Daisy inside. Their smiles were bigger now as they hurried through the house.
It wasn’t anywhere near as large as the Campbell’s place, but there was a living space, a kitchen and two bedrooms. A small horse shelter was out back and an outhouse that looked to be leaning to one side.
The backyard was just as overgrown as the front, but here, wildflowers grew in large clusters as if someone had planted them, the soft pink and purple flowers immediately catching Violet’s eye when she stepped out the back door.
“How beautiful!” She rushed to the first cluster and picked a few, Daisy right behind her, doing the same.
He turned to Ewan when the man stepped up beside him. “Why’d you do this, Ewan? You’re only going to make it harder now if she gets attached to this place.”
“Make what harder? Setting my granddaughter aside when you’re done with her?”
He blew out a breath. “You know it isn’t going to happen like that. We both agreed to have the marriage annulled.”
“So.” Ewan shrugged his shoulders. “Just because ye agreed to something doesn’t mean ye can’t change yer mind.” He pulled on the waist of his kilt, adjusting it and his sword. “I wasn’t lying about her making ye a good wife. All ye have to do is give her a chance.”
The other men walked out onto the porch with them and neither said another word about the marriage. As far as he knew, there were only two people that knew it wasn’t real and he’d like to keep it that way. He didn’t need the whole town knowing his business.
Violet turned to look at him, her smile wide and infectious. She had a big bouquet of wildflowers in her hand, the blooms making her look soft and feminine, and for half a second, he considered what Ewan said.
Changing his mind about the marriage would be easy and heaven knew he’d thought about consummating it daily.
His ugly past screamed through his head the next instant, and he knew he couldn’t let that happen. He’d not put Violet in danger like that. He refused to.
Turning away, he headed back into the house and right out the front door. The town could do what they wanted with this little house because he had no intentions of making it a home.
The silly notion Josiah would see her in this house and start to think about a future with her vanished the moment he went back inside and out the front door.
He’d barely looked at the house to be honest and, according to Daisy, her grandfather had been up before dawn, gathering everyone together to show the house to them.
Guilt made her want to confess to him that the marriage was fake, but with so many others around, she held her tongue. The whole town didn’t need to know.
The wildflowers she collected were already wilting, the buds dropping now that she’d pulled them from the ground. Daisy had a bouquet nearly as large as the one she held and the way her heart hurt, she wanted to just toss hers to the ground but held on to them, despite her sudden change in mood.
She hurried back through the house and out the front door. Josiah was by his horse, Jake, talking softly to him. Their eyes met and for once, there wasn’t an ounce of emotion in his that she could read.
Daisy joined her on the porch and she watched her head to the wagon she and her grandfather had ridden out there in. Josiah was waiting, she realized, when she glanced back over at him. As much as she liked being held in his arms, she knew he probably didn’t feel the same way.
“You go on ahead,” she called out to him. “I’ll catch a ride back to town with Daisy and Gramps.”
“You sure?”
She nodded and gave him a tight smile. “Yes. I’ll be fine.”
He didn’t say anything else, just climbed onto the saddle and rode away as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
Her grandfather nudged her with his elbow. “Don’t let him get away from ye.”
She blew out a breath. “Gramps, pl—”
“—Don’t gramps, me,” he interrupted. “That’s yer husband.”
“But he’s not. Not really.” She blew out another breath and glanced behind her to see where the others were. She saw them out back and said, “It’s not a real marriage, gramps.”
“Sure it is. As long as that preacher was legit, then it's real.”
“But Josiah doesn’t want it to be real.”
“Then change his mind.”
“How?”
“You’re a woman. Use yer feminine wiles.”
She laughed. “My feminine wiles?”
“Women have been seducing men fer as long as they’ve been fornicating. He’s legally yer husband. Act like his wife.”
“You sound like Daisy now.”
“Well, great minds do think alike.”
He hurried to the wagon, and she glanced back at the little house.
It was in rough shape, but it would be fun fixing it up.
She had enough linens and house goods in her hope chest to decorate it and make it livable in less than a week.
She could make a home out of it, a home she and Josiah could start a family in.
The thought made her chest ache, knowing it would never happen. She gave one last look to the cabin surrounded by pink wildflowers she’d never have and headed to the wagon.
The ride back into town was made in silence, the conversation with her grandfather still fresh on her mind. He’d told her to use her feminine wiles to get Josiah to change his mind about their marriage. But how exactly did she go about doing that?
He knew something was wrong the moment he got back into town. Bonnie was running down the road toward the mercantile, and the door to Doc Tibbens' office was standing wide open.
He spurred his horse into a run, not slowing until he reached the mercantile where Bonnie was banging on the store’s door. It was too early for anyone to be there, and she realized it as he dismounted and headed for the steps. “What’s wrong, Bonnie?”
She was crying, her face splotchy, her eyes blood-shot and red. “It’s Archie. He’s dying.”
He wasn’t sure if her words were an exaggeration or the truth, but he was headed toward Doc Tibbens' place when he saw the others who’d been out at the small house the town provided for the Marshall come back into view.
Bonnie ran on ahead of him and he glanced at Violet as she looked his way before he ran to catch up with Bonnie. Doc Tibbens was examining Archie when he made it inside and the old man looked up at him, a grim expression on his face.
“His fever is dangerously high.”
Josiah tried to regulate his breathing. All the running he’d been doing lately told him how out of shape he was. Sitting behind his desk was taking a toll. “What do you need?”
Doc Tibbens listened to Archie’s heart and didn’t say anything until he’d straightened. “He needs to go to Elkin. I can’t tend to him. I’m not physically able to.”
The door to the office opened, and they all turned to it. Violet’s gaze went straight to Archie. “What’s happened?”
“He’s sick,” Bonnie said, tears once again falling down her cheeks. “We need to get him to a doctor that can tend to him.”
Violet nodded while stepping further into the room, wrapping one arm around Bonnie to try to comfort her. “We’ll take him,” she said before looking over at him. “Can you go with us?”
“Of course.” When the arrangements were made, he headed back across town to get Jake and got him settled at the livery stable before switching out the horses on the wagon Ewan and Daisy had used to go out to the house.
He sent Clay to tell Rufus to keep an eye on the jail while he was gone, and it took over an hour to get everything settled.
By the time the sun was high in the sky, they had Archie on a soft pallet of blankets in the back of the wagon being tended to by Bonnie, with Violet beside him on the wagon bench.
The ride to Elkin was made in silence, everyone lost in their own thoughts.
He hoped Rufus didn’t run into any trouble.
He hated leaving the town unprotected, but it couldn’t be avoided.
Sure, he could have had Rufus take Archie, Bonnie, and Violet into Elkin, but with the Edwin situation still an ongoing issue, he didn’t think it was a good idea.
Besides, he could find that preacher and see if he’d ever finalized their marriage with the local courts.
And if he hasn’t?
Then his marriage to Violet was a non-issue. The annulment they’d agreed on wouldn’t be needed.
Violet shifted in her seat and he glanced over at her. She looked pretty today and had been glowing when they’d been shown that little house.
The conversation he’d had with Ewan two nights before whispered inside his head while they’d been there.
It explained the look on Violet’s face. She’d wanted that little house.
Wanted to make a home out of it, just like Ewan had said.
It was probably why the old man had them up before the chickens to show it to them. He knew Violet would want it.
As mad as he should be at the old man for meddling, he couldn’t fault him. He wasn’t doing anything but trying to make his granddaughter happy.
And he was hell bent on doing the exact opposite.
He blew out a breath. Regardless of Violet’s feelings, it couldn’t be helped.
Finding that preacher in Elkin would leave him with a hard decision.
If he’d filed the license, then they were legally married and getting the marriage annulled would undoubtedly break Violet’s heart.
She hadn’t told him she wanted to stay married, but she’d alluded to it a time or two and if what Ewan said was true, she had feelings for him, something he’d suspected for a while now.
Would being married to her be such a bad thing?
No, it wouldn’t be, but it wasn’t safe. He’d put Violet in danger for no other reason than she was married to a lawman.
Plenty of lawmen have families.
Yes, and those same men had to bury their families when some criminal held a grudge they couldn’t let go of. He’d seen it too many times to count, and he didn’t want to risk Violet’s life like that. He wouldn’t.
It was near dark by the time they made it to Elkin and later still when he stepped out of the doctor's office and onto the sidewalk and looked around the town.
It was much larger than Silver Falls. It was several streets wide and a couple of blocks long.
There were businesses on both sides of the road and music from the two story saloon filled the streets to clash with the multitude of voices.
He spotted the Wright Mercantile down the road, light shining through the windows. He’d been inside a few times when he was here, but couldn’t remember a single thing about it, not even Edwin.
Noise behind him drew his attention away from the building. Violet stepped onto the sidewalk and pulled the door to the doctor's office closed. She looked tired. He imagined she was. They’d both been woken up too early.
“I think I could sleep for a week.”
“So could I.” He looked down the street both ways, finally spotting a hotel at the far end. “I’ll go grab us some hotel rooms.”
“All right,” she said. “But Bonnie’s staying here. The doctor and his wife already made up a cot for her.”
The look she gave him heated his blood. Since sharing the little room behind the jail with her, sleeping next to her was beginning to feel natural. Back home in Silver Falls, they had no choice in the matter. Here they did.
He could easily get two rooms and no one would be the wiser and the rational side of his brain told him to do so but the other side, the one that kept whispering to him that she was legally his wife and he had every right to sleep next to her told him to get one room with an extra small bed and be done with it.
He glanced back down the street to the hotel and cleared his throat. “Stay here with Bonnie. I’ll go see about the hotel room and find us all something to eat.”
He didn’t wait for a reply and headed down the street.
He had a decision to make on the short walk across town and he couldn’t think properly with her so close.
He needed a hotel room, but did he get one room or two?
And did he want to go find that preacher that married them or pretend he didn’t exist and bed his wife like he should have done days ago?