Chapter 16 #2
She turned to the window and blew out a breath.
“Our conversation last night made me realize how trapped you are.” She met his gaze and gave him a smile, but something about the look in her eyes was filled with sadness.
“I appreciate what you did for me, Josiah. You didn’t have to go along with my lie or even agree to marry me to get Edwin to leave, and I’ll forever be grateful you did, but I can’t let this farce go on any longer.
It’s not fair to make you participate in something you clearly want no part of, so once we find that preacher, you’ll be done with me once and for all. ”
Just saying the words hurt. Violet sipped her coffee and tried to ignore the pain in her chest. The last thing she wanted was to have their marriage annulled, but it wasn’t fair keeping Josiah bound to her.
He didn’t want a wife at all, so despite her wishes, she had to give him the freedom to live as he wanted. It was cruel not to knowing his past.
“I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to this, Violet. "
“I know, but it wasn’t fair to drag you into it to begin with and for that, I’m truly sorry.” She glanced out the window, a sudden melancholy mood making her chest ache with regret. “I should have just been firm with Edwin to begin with.”
“Probably, but Edwin doesn’t strike me as the type to take no for an answer.”
“He doesn’t.” She blew out a breath and met his gaze. “How did your talk with him go?”
“It didn’t. There were too many people in the store, but I did have an interesting conversation with the local sheriff.”
“Oh?”
Josiah nodded before taking a sip of his coffee. “Did you know Edwin’s father is dead?”
“Dead!” She blushed at her outburst and looked around the room. More than one head was turned her way. She lowered her voice and leaned forward. “What do you mean, he’s dead?”
“According to the sheriff, he died six months ago.”
Violet blinked. Why did Edwin say his pa was sick when the man had already died?
“Something about this whole story Edwin has concocted doesn’t sound right, especially now that the sheriff told me there’s a lot of ‘back door deals’ taking place over at the mercantile.”
“Back door deals?”
“The sheriff’s words, not mine. Apparently Edwin’s been hanging around some shady people and there are a lot of comings and goings taking place behind his store.”
Their food arriving cut off their conversation.
They ate for a few minutes in silence, and she was glad for it.
As heartsick as she was thinking of ending things with Josiah, this new twist made everything even more confusing.
Edwin’s father was dead. Why did he lie about that?
And what was he up to? It had to be something.
Why else would he be so adamant she marry him and lie about his pa?
When their waitress came back to refill their coffee mugs, Violet ordered a plate of food for Bonnie.
“Is Archie doing better?”
“Yes.” Violet glanced out the window toward the doctor's office. “If his fever doesn’t return, he should be ready to go back home in a few days.”
Josiah nodded and took a sip of his coffee. “Speaking of, we should head back today. I don’t like leaving Rufus in charge for long. He’s deputized, but anything more dangerous than Cecil and Randall quarreling over that cow should be handled by me, not him.”
The disappointment she felt at his announcement was hid by lifting her coffee mug, but a moment later, she looked over the rim at him. What about the preacher? Did he not want to find him?
By the time they were finished eating and were drinking the last of their coffee, the hope he’d forget about annulling their wedding had her suppressing a giddy smile.
Of course, he’d probably just forgotten for a moment, but she’d live in stupid bliss as long as she could.
As much as she hated feeling as if she’d trapped him, she didn’t want their marriage to end.
She wanted him. Forever. Had since the moment she’d seen him ride into town and even though her crush had waned over the years, playing the doting wife had made her realize how much she wanted the whole picket fence dream with him.
But he doesn’t.
That little voice in the back of her head made those dreams crash in an instant. She blew out a breath and pushed her plate away. As much as she wanted Josiah Lincoln to be her husband in every way, she couldn’t trap him like this. She had to set him free, whether she wanted to or not.
Resigned, she knew she had to carry through with her plan and would spend the rest of the day trying to find the preacher and set things to right, but first she had to talk to Edwin again.
Getting the marriage dissolved only solved part of her problem.
Setting Edwin straight once and for all had to be done, too.
He needed to know she’d never marry him, whether she already had a husband or not, and this time, she wasn’t going to let him bully her into a rash decision that affected not only her life but that of Josiah’s as well.
“What happened to your face?”
Josiah’s quiet question drew her from her musings. She puzzled over it, wondering what he was talking about when he reached across the table and ran the back of one finger over her cheek.
His eyes seemed to harden as he looked at her. “Are those bruises?” With a finger underneath her chin, he turned her face to the right, then left. “Did someone touch you?”
Edwin grabbing her face in the mercantile came back to mind. It had hurt when he held her face in his hand, but she didn’t think he’d pressed so tight it would have caused bruising, especially not this soon.
“Did Edwin do this?” When she didn’t answer, Josiah’s face went red before he leaned back and fished a few bills from his pocket and tossed them on the table.
He stood without a word before grabbing his hat and leaving her sitting there alone. She blinked at his now empty seat before jumping to her feet and hurrying to catch up with him.
He was heading down the sidewalk toward the mercantile when she stepped out of the hotel restaurant. Dodging people filling the wooden walkway, she hurried after him. “Josiah, wait!”
He didn’t slow down or even acknowledge her and she had no doubt Edwin was in for a hurting once Josiah found him.
She caught him three doors from the mercantile and was able to jump around him and get him to stop. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to repay the favor and leave a few bruises on him.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t.”
“Sure I can.”
“Josiah, you can’t ju—
“—Did he do this?” he asked, cutting her off while softly brushing his finger against her cheek. “You have four bruises that are perfectly lined up as if someone grabbed your face, so tell me now, did Edwin leave these bruises on you? Because if he did, I’m going to repay the favor.”
Someone walking past them paused and looked their way. Violet threw the aging lady a hurried smile before giving her attention back to Josiah. When she didn’t answer his question, he stepped around her without another word.
“Josiah!” She caught him before he reached the mercantile, grabbing his arm. He opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of gunfire pulled a scream from her throat and she jumped, startled as the people around them started to scream and duck for cover.
Multiple gunshots rang throughout the street. The chaos was instantaneous. Screams and shouts filled the air. People started running as bullets started pinging off the surrounding buildings, one hitting the wall beside them right between their heads.
Josiah grabbed her and ushered her into an open doorway before rushing to the back of the building.
Others followed them in, the raised voices and screaming nearly deafening her as Josiah placed her against the back wall, crouching with her there while others filed into the room. “Stay here,” he said. “Don’t move until I come back for you.”
He didn’t wait for a reply before standing and reaching for the gun he carried holstered at his hip and hurrying back to the front door.
Violet waited with the others, and the few small children that were crying only added to her fraying nerves.
Gunshots were still popping off, the noise echoing down the street, and wondering what was happening out there, and if Josiah was in the middle of it, caused her already stressed brain to overreact.
What if he was shot in the mayhem? Had he been already? Was he lying in the street bleeding out even now?
The very thought of it had her rising and heading back through the small shop she was hiding in. She peered out the dirty window but didn’t see anyone, then screamed when a bullet hit the glass, shattering it into hundreds of pieces.
She hit the floor on her knees and turned, crawling through the store to the back again to wait for Josiah like he’d told her to do.
The wait was excruciating and images of Josiah lying in the rutted dirt road that ran through town wouldn’t leave her head. What if he died out there?
Was this the way he felt? Fearing for her life on a daily basis for no other reason than someone would hurt her to get to him? No wonder he didn’t want a wife.
But she could have died the moment the first gunshot went off, and it had nothing to do with him. Any number of things could kill her. An infection from stepping on a rusty nail could, so his argument that it was dangerous to be married to him wasn’t sensible.
By the time it was over, she was on the verge of tears. Fear for his safety and their future had her nerves wrecked.
Voices from outside started to raise, but it was different from before. No one was yelling now, and the gunfire had stopped. It was over.
The sound of footsteps crunching over broken glass brought her head up. Everyone in the small back room seemed to hold their breath. The moment Josiah walked through the doorway, the fear she’d lost him vanished.
She sprang to her feet without a word and lunged for him. He caught her mid-run, and he never got a chance to say a word when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.