Chapter Thirty-Three
It wasn’t long after that Emily and the sheriff arrived, along with a couple of deputies. They immediately took charge of the situation and took Edwin into custody. Connor and the sheriff moved off to one side while Emily and Travis helped Anna to the porch and urged her to sit down.
“Oh, my goodness!” Emily gasped, inspecting Anna’s neck. “You’re going to have some bruises coming up there.”
“Just what I need,” Anna muttered. She gave Travis a grateful smile as he laid the blanket across her lap. “But that’s nothing compared to what Edwin’s going to get for what he’s done.”
She told Emily about what happened and what Edwin had confessed to. When she finished, Emily was staring at her with wide eyes and a stunned expression.
“So the will wasn’t real?” she repeated. “He did that thinking you would never do it?”
“Pretty much.”
Emily shickered. “It’s a good thing you were willing to do anything; you’d have been homeless.”
“Yes,” Anna murmured.
She watched as Edwin was taken away, drunkenly cursing the deputies holding onto him. Connor said something to the sheriff, and the two men shook hands. Nodding at Anna from across the yard, the sheriff left. Travis settled in the chair beside Anna.
“It looks like they’re going to be taking this seriously,” he said.
“Do you think Edwin’s boast about having a deputy as a friend is true?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know. I just hope we can prove the will is a fake.”
“Although I don’t see Edwin admitting to everything once he sobers up,” Emily pointed out.
Travis sighed.
“We’ll take that chance, I’m sure.”
Connor was walking toward them. Emily jumped up and hurried to him.
To Anna’s surprise, she flung her arms around Connor, hugging him tightly.
Connor looked equally confused, hesitating before he started hugging her back.
Anna glanced at Travis, who looked equally bewildered.
Emily had never shown that sort of affection toward Connor before.
Emily let go and stepped back, her cheeks turning a little bright pink.
“What did the sheriff say?” she asked. “What’s going to happen to Edwin?”
“He’s going to be processed and thrown in jail. The rest of his charges will be dealt with tomorrow.”
“And his friend in the sheriff’s office?” Anna chimed in.
Connor nodded. “They are going to look into that as well. Emily found out something, too.”
Emily nodded and turned to Anna. “We suspected that someone was fudging up the reports to hide their taking the money out.”
“We thought that as well,” Travis added.
“Well, the sheriff said one of Edwin’s childhood friends is the chief clerk. He would have access to all of the accounts, and it wouldn’t be difficult to change the numbers around to make it look more prosperous than it really was.”
Anna felt sick. They’d spoken to the chief clerk as well as the bank manager, and the man hadn’t said anything about being a friend of Edwin’s. How had she not known when she was related to him?
“And he didn’t see anything wrong with what he was doing?” Anna asked.
Emily shook her head. “No, not at all. He said he was helping an old friend who was getting back what he deserved. Didn’t care that he was committing a crime and could lose his job.”
Travis whistled. “Your cousin is more charming than I thought him to be.”
“Not with the women,” Emily laughed. “Men might believe him, but women just walked the other way. They could sense he was bad news, but easily impressionable men couldn’t.”
Anna could believe it. Edwin claimed he was popular with the ladies, but she’d never seen him courting anyone.
“I think we should all have some tea,” Emily declared, getting to her feet. “Mrs. Mason can get something for us. Connor, why don’t we leave Anna and Travis to talk things over?”
“Why?”
Emily coughed and nudged him sharply. That was when Connor’s eyes widened, and he cleared his throat, his cheeks turning a little red.
“Oh, right. Yes. Of course.”
He hurried off, Emily following behind him with a shake of her head. Travis shifted his chair closer to Anna and put his arm around her shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he said, kissing her head.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t realize he’d done anything to the will. It was all about manipulation and sabotage.”
Anna rested her head on his shoulder. She let out a heavy sigh and felt as if her whole body was going to collapse if she wasn’t standing upright.
“I didn’t realize Edwin would do something like that either. He was lucky Pa didn’t catch him.”
“Maybe he did catch him, and Edwin tried to get around it. Or he was just too greedy to wait until your father died of natural causes, so he decided to speed it up a bit.”
Anna shuddered. “I don’t know about Pa catching him.
I’m sure he would’ve said something. But I can agree with the second one.
But to think that Edwin could’ve purposefully killed Pa just to get the inheritance he wanted…
” She swallowed dryly, her thoughts turning to something else that made her feel cold.
“Was he going to do the same to me? Why didn’t he poison me at the same time?
It would’ve gotten rid of both of us at the same time, and he wouldn’t have gone through this mayhem. ”
“If you and your father died so suddenly at the same time, it would’ve been seen as suspicious. And I’m guessing Edwin couldn’t find a way to stay close to you so he could poison you, either.” It was Travis’s turn to sigh.
“But he could’ve done that instead of waiting for me to find a husband,” Anna pointed out. “He could’ve…”
She stopped, not wanting to think about it further. There was a lot that Edwin could’ve done, including killing her as well. But she didn’t want to think about it. It was making her feel incredibly sick, and she didn’t want to fret over something that might’ve happened.
All she knew for certain was that she was incredibly lucky.
“Anyway, it’s over now,” Travis said gently. “He’s gone, and there’s proof of what he did, not to mention what he confessed to, so it should be easy to get him sent away to jail.”
“What if he’s hanged?” Anna whispered. “What if he ended up getting the death sentence?”
Travis paused, and Anna could see a myriad of emotions pass across his face.
He didn’t know how to answer that without softening the blow.
“If that happens, then it has to happen, Anna. He did practically admit to killing someone, and being given a jail sentence seems too lenient.” He frowned.
“Wouldn’t you want the person who murdered your father to die for his actions? ”
Anna bit her lip. “I understand there are times when the death penalty is needed, and I would normally support it. But I don’t know what to think.”
His expression softened, and he gently kissed her forehead.
“It’s still a bit of a shock right now. I can’t blame you for that. Take some time, and let it sink in. You’re going to need to if you want to move forward.”
“Move forward?”
“With rebuilding the ranch. Getting your money back. There are times when burying your head in the sand is the best thing to do, but this isn’t a time to do it.”
Anna knew that. She wasn’t completely naive. But she didn’t know if she could. She had felt as if she’d hit rock bottom, and now she’d been thrown into waves that were tossing her about with Edwin’s confession.
No, she couldn’t bury her head with this one. Travis was right.
“I just hope that we can build the place up again,” she said quietly, looking out across the yard. “It’s looking worse for wear right now.”
“We’ll be able to get it back to how it was before.
It’s going to take a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
You’re the one who needs to decide how much work should be put in.
” Travis smiled. “You’ll be exhausted by the end of it, but you’ll be back to it in no time. I’m confident of that.”
“And everything really is over? No more sabotages? No more losing money without realizing it?”
He chuckled and stroked her cheek.
“No one’s going to threaten us again. I’m not going to let it happen.”
Looking at him, Anna really believed him. Her head throbbed, and she felt sick, but she felt anchored with the comforting look in Travis’s eyes.
She leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was timid and tentative at first, then slowly evolved into a passionate one that left Anna's entire body trembling. Then Travis broke the kiss, his eyes darker than before as he gently stroked her cheek.
“What was that for?”
“Because I wanted to.” She bit her lip. “You didn’t like it?”
“On the contrary, I loved it. I just didn’t think you would ever want to kiss me.” His smile was affectionate, his thumb running across her lips. “Weren’t we supposed to make this a business arrangement between us? What happened to that?”
Anna giggled, taking his hand from her mouth and linking their fingers together.
“I think that went out of the window when I started to fall in love with you.”
He blinked, and then his eyes widened.
“What did you say?”
“I love you.” Then Anna felt a flicker of concern. She sat up. “Sorry, I know it’s sudden, but…”
She didn’t get any further before Travis kissed her, holding her close as he deepened the kiss. Both of them were gasping for breath as they pulled back. Travis leaned his forehead against hers.
“I never thought I’d hear that again,” he rasped. “I never imagined I would have someone saying they loved me just as much as I love them.”
“Really?”
He grinned and kissed her again.
“I do. I love you, Anna, and I would love nothing more than to throw our business arrangement out and make this a proper marriage. That is, if you are happy with that.”
Anna couldn’t think of anything better. She smiled, feeling her heart lightening.
“I’d love that. Absolutely.”
They were still smiling at each other when Mrs. Mason arrived, carrying a tray. Emily and Connor were just behind her, giving them knowing looks. Mrs. Mason beamed as she put the tray on a nearby table. “It’s nice to see something good coming out of this.”
The cook winked at her before touching Travis’s shoulder. “Look after you, Travis. If you don’t, she’ll let you know about it.”
That made Emily laugh, and Connor grinned, nodding his head. Anna couldn’t help but giggle, leaning against Travis. Only to flinch when her head shifted again. Immediately, Travis was turning his attention to her.
“What is it? Is it your head?”
“It still hurts.”
“Then you need to take it easy for the next few days,” Mrs. Mason said briskly, pressing a cup of coffee into Anna’s hands. “I don’t want to see you doing any work for at least a week. You need to rest and recover.”
“But…”
“No arguments. Rest and recover.”
Anna looked at Travis, who was trying not to laugh. He shrugged.
“I’m not about to argue with her. I’m not brave enough.”
That made Anna sigh, but she couldn’t stop smiling. Mostly because she knew that she couldn’t argue with Mrs. Mason, either.