Chapter 9 #2
For a long moment, they stared at each other. Stephen’s honest face was wrinkled in confusion, and Lyla—well, she knew that she was smiling.
Suddenly, his brow cleared, and a light of understanding came to his eyes.
“I see,” he said. “So. You’ve got everything just about figured out, don’t you, Miss Lyla?”
She beamed.
“Yes, Stephen, I believe I do.”
He was agreeable to her proposal! She was going back to jail!
She’d never been so happy in her life.
The door banged open. The jailed man looked up from his place, spread comfortably on the cot at the end of the cell, ready to make some lighthearted remarks to the sheriff, who undoubtedly was there to let him out.
After all, he hadn’t really been doing anything.
And there just wasn’t enough room to incarcerate everyone.
The lock on the door rattled, the barred door swung open—and the prisoner sat up, his mouth suddenly going dry.
“Am I dreamin’?” he muttered.
Lyla Partridge beamed at him.
“Rhett Hammond,” she said, “you might as well scooch over and let me have a place on that cot. It’s far more comfortable than the bench.”
Wordlessly, feeling struck dumb for the first time in his life, he did as she asked. She perched herself daintily on the cot. He noted that her red hair was coming loose from its pins, and he fought the urge to reach over and twine a lock of it around his hand.
“What are you doing here?”
“They let me in for good behavior,” she said, swinging her booted feet.
He sighed and laughed all at once.
“Who did you hit this time?”
“I resent the implication that a girl can only land herself in jail by means of violence. I asked to be let in here, Rhett.”
“Why?” he asked softly. She faced him, her smile softening, spreading, warm like honey.
“I have a proposal for you, Rhett Hammond. Either you let the sheriff let you out and go on your merry way as you’ve always done, straight up until the moment when you let your guard down and your past catches up with you, and you end your life hung as a cattle thief…”
“It…doesn’t sound too appealing when you put it that way.”
“No,” she agreed. “Instead, you agree to give up your life of crime, find employment that will allow you to support a wife comfortably, marry me, and let me help you settle into being the great man that you can be—rather than the charming rascal that you are.”
He gave a low whistle. His eyes were starting to sparkle.
“Lyla Partridge,” he said, “has anyone ever told you that you’ve got a way with words?”
Lyla laughed.
“Is that a yes?”
Rather than give her an answer, he wrapped his arms around her and drew her into an embrace, pressing his lips to hers. She twined her arms around him—and something fell to the floor with a loud clink.
“What’s that?”
He peered at it. Lyla laughed.
“The key,” she said. “The sheriff said we can come out whenever we’re ready.”
Rhett Hammond picked it up and eyed it for a moment. Then, smiling, he tossed it through the bars of the cell, just to the other side.
“Well,” he said, “guess we’re stuck here now…”
On the other side of the door, the sheriff and Deputy Morrow glanced at each other, listening to the sound of laughter from the jail cell.
Deputy Morrow heaved a sigh.
“I just don’t understand some folks,” he said.
Sheriff Edwards had been in law enforcement for too long not to know something of the ways of the human heart. He gave his deputy a wry smile.
“That’s all right, Joe,” he said. “They understand each other. I reckon that’s all they really want, in the end.”
~*~*~
If you enjoyed reading this story may I suggest that you may also like to read The Hearts Long Road to Love - 12 Book Boxset which is available on Amazon for just $0.99 or FREE with Kindle Unlimited simply by clicking on the link below.
Click Here to Get Your Copy of ‘The Hearts Long Road to Love - 12 Book Box Set’ - Today!
Sample of Chapter One
Lily Bradshaw stood beside Wesley, her younger brother, and other families as they waited in the drizzle for word on the miners trapped in the caved-in section of the coal mine.
Muffled cries and moans, and the occasional clunking of rosary beads, were the only sounds.
The foreman, beefy Mac McGinty, stepped in front of the cluster of families and shook his head.
“Sorry, folks. We can’t risk clearing a path to the trapped miners without jeopardizing the rest of the mine and the miners.
As much as we’d like to stage a rescue operation, we can’t do it. You all might as well head on home.”
Wes grabbed Lily’s hand and whispered, “Does that mean they’re just gonna leave them buried? Poor Poppa.” He blinked the tears from his eyes. “They’ll kick us out of the company housing now. How long do you think we’ll have?”
Lily had been asking herself the same question since the news came to them that morning that their father was one of the unlucky eleven men trapped in the mine shaft.
“I don’t know, but it’s not your worry, Wes.
I’ll think of something.” She put an arm around her brother, aware anew of his slight frame.
He was only nine, way too young to shoulder responsibility of this magnitude.
After a quick meal, Lily and Wes went their separate ways in the house to grieve for their father, Benjamin Bradshaw, a gruff, hard-working man who did the best he could for their small family.
After the accident with the buggy, which claimed the lives of his wife, eldest son, and two daughters, Benjamin devoted himself to ensuring Lily and Wes were well cared for.
His biggest wish was to create a better life for them, and to make certain Wes never set foot in the mines.
Mabel McGinty dropped by later that evening with a casserole and the news that the owners of the mine were giving them a month to vacate the mining company’s house and to find a new place to live.
“That’s very generous of them. The other families only got two weeks.
If you need more time to figure out what to do—say, plan a wedding to Sam—you and Wes can stay with Mac and me.
” She bumped shoulders with Lily. “Sam’s been sweet on you for so many years. ”
“Sam’s a very nice man, Mabel, but he’s a miner, and I promised Poppa I would never marry a miner. I don’t want to worry about my man every time he goes to work. There must be a better solution.” Lily collapsed into a chair and put her head in her hands.
Mabel patted the young women’s shoulder and lowered her voice.
“They can always use little guys like Wes in the mines. They can crawl in places others can’t go.
Think about it. I’ll leave last month’s newspaper from Pittsburgh for you to check the classifieds.
Maybe there’s something in the big city that grabs your fancy. ”
Lily sat and stared at the wall while her mind churned.
She didn’t need to pull down the tin where she stashed what little money they had managed to scrounge during the year to know how much they had, since she counted it every month, hoping upon hope it would magically grow.
Seven dollars was all that stood between them and true poverty.
How far from the mines could she and Wes get on seven dollars?
If she sold her mother’s prized silver teapot, she’d have a bit more, but then the last remembrance of her mother would be gone.
There had to be a better way. And she knew marriage to Sam wasn’t it.
She lit a candle and picked up the paper Mabel had left. With a sigh, she quickly scanned the employment adverts. Most of them would be filled by now, since the paper was weeks old and there were a lot of people looking for work in the area. Wes finally opened the bedroom door and joined her.
Lily could tell he’d been crying, but he was now trying to put on a brave face. “I heard what Mabel said. Maybe we won’t have to leave this house if I go to work for the mines. I know how much you love it here.” Lily could see his lower lip trembling.
She reached over and ruffled his blond hair.
“This house means nothing to me, Wes. It’s just sticks and stones.
The people who lived here were what made it special.
As long as we stick together, we’ll be fine.
And that means, no mines for you. A boy your age should only have to worry about spelling bees and adding sums on a blackboard.
You need sunlight, not a hole in the ground. ”
“So, what do we do?” Wes pulled out a chair and sat.
“We start by not looking at the adverts in this paper. Surely, there’s an answer here somewhere.” She snapped open the paper and then placed one arm around her brother. “Now, close your eyes. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. What kind of life would you wish for?”
Wes’s eyes were shut tightly, and his little face took on a serious, pensive look. “Horses” was his whispered reply. “Horses would be nice.” He opened his eyes wide, blinking away the tears that had formed. “If I can’t have Poppa anymore, I want horses.”
Lily affixed a smile to her face. “That’s the spirit, Wes.
Now, let’s see what we can find.” Was there any place she could find a home if she had a brother with her?
She could feel his body quaver as a fresh round of tears began.
“We’ll find something, Wes. Don’t despair.
” She had enough despair for them both. They certainly qualified as beggars, that was for sure.
Fresh air, schooling, and horses. Where could she find all that?
Biting her lower lip, she turned to the personal adverts. Now, she knew what she had to do.
Salt Fork, Texas