The Sheriff's Promise to a Broken Mother

Prologue

Piney, Dakota Territory

Chloe fought back tears as she folded a well-worn, carefully mended skirt and tucked it into the bottom of her small valise. She reached for a blouse in the open drawer of a chest but ended up crumpling it against her chest as she returned to the bed with it.

The room she shared with her friend Maggie was barely eight feet square, holding two narrow beds, a small table with a lamp between them, the small dresser they shared, and a washstand tucked into the corner beneath the window.

She’d been lucky to have a roof over her head, a bed to sleep in, and food to eat every day.

She should be thanking God for her blessings over the past few years rather than bemoaning the fact that her sense of security had come to an end.

She blinked back tears, her throat burning and chest aching with a myriad of emotions. She liked it here in Piney, nestled in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. It was the longest she’d stayed anywhere in the past seven years. She could—

“What are you doing?”

She turned to find Maggie standing in the doorway of the room at the boarding house, her eyes wide as she glanced between Chloe and the valise on the bed. “I … I have to leave, Maggie,” she said softly, emotions welling.

Maggie’s shoulders slumped. “Leave?” she gaped “But … but why?”

How can I tell her the truth? A truth I’ve kept hidden from the only true friend I’ve ever had?

“I brought lunch …” Maggie said, lifting the small wicker basket she held at her side.

Chloe sank down on the bed, sick at heart and afraid, fighting back threatening tears. How in the world could she explain?

Maggie stepped toward Chloe’s bed and sat down next to her on the old and faded but still lovely Shoo Fly Block quilt.

“Tell me what’s happened.” She leaned forward and placed the basket on her own bed an arm’s length away before reaching for Chloe’s hand.

“Are you in trouble? Did something happen?”

Chloe eyed the small basket containing their lunch of cheese sandwiches and apples. They’d planned to sit outside on the bench under the small arbor in the backyard of the boarding house since it was such a nice day, rare indeed for so early in spring.

Yet everything had changed yesterday, when she’d heard the rumor floating through town.

She regretted the thought of leaving. She’d felt safe here.

She truly had. Even so, she had to know the truth.

She couldn’t keep running and hiding, and the not knowing was torture.

Month by month, year by year, her desire to know the truth of the matter grew worse.

“Chloe,” Maggie said. “Please tell me what’s wrong. I don’t understand. You’ve lived here for four years. We’ve shared this room for nearly that long. We’ve worked together at the town bakery since the day after you arrived.” Her voice trembled. “Please tell me what’s happened. I’ll help you.”

Chloe squeezed her eyes shut, holding back tears of heartache.

Didn’t she have enough of those already, and now she’d added more.

She’d been scared and hesitant upon her arrival at the old mining town, and yet when she’d walked into the Sunrise Bakery that first day, so hungry she was willing to spend a precious nickel on a loaf of bread, she’d met a smiling woman about her age behind the counter.

The young woman had seen that Chloe was alone and hungry and tired, and after looking over her shoulder into the kitchen to make sure she wasn’t watched, she’d handed Chloe not only the penny loaf of bread, but a half-dozen cornmeal biscuits as well.

“I’m Maggie,” she’d said. “You staying in town?”

Chloe had shrugged her shoulders. “If I can find someplace affordable and a job.”

With a grin, Maggie had pointed to a sign facing backward in the corner window. It said ‘Help Wanted’. From that day on, she and Maggie had shared this tiny room in the boarding house at the edge of town, splitting the cost of room and board between them.

Yet now, years later, the questions and the worry had grown unbearable. She had to learn the truth.

“Chloe?”

Chloe folded her hands in her lap. What could she say? There were so many things that she’d never told Maggie, not since the first day she’d arrived in town seeking shelter, perhaps even peace. She’d gained the former but not the latter. She took a deep breath and let it out on a heavy sigh.

“I’m going to Nebraska.”

Maggie stared, still gaping. “Nebraska?”

Chloe nodded. It was the first time she’d told anyone even a little about her past. “Maggie, I … I have to find someone.”

Eyes wide and mouth agape, Maggie stared. “What? Who?”

“I have to go find her,” Chloe choked out.

“Who do you have to find, Chloe?” Maggie asked, eyes shining with unshed tears.

Chloe hesitated for only a moment before she straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “My daughter.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then turned to face Maggie.

“When I was eighteen, I made a foolish mistake. I married a man I thought I loved but … but by the time I turned twenty, I realized what kind of man he really was.” She looked down at her lap, a frown tugging at her brow.

“I learned he was an outlaw,” she continued, voice trembling.

“He was hurting people, doing bad things. I had to turn him in.”

“Oh, Chloe,” Maggie murmured, an arm around Chloe’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”

Chloe blinked back tears. “At the same time I also realized …” She barely managed to speak the words. “I realized I was with child. But my husband, he was so angry with me. He threatened that he would make me pay for what I’d done, turning him in like that.”

Maggie smothered a gasp, her own brows furrowing in concern.

The look triggered a rush of emotions that tore through Chloe, causing her stomach to tighten and her head to pound.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “He was sent to prison, but later, I learned that he’d escaped, so I … I knew I had to run away.”

She turned to face her friend. “I had the baby, but I could barely take care of myself, let alone my baby. I was terrified that he would find me and make me pay for turning him in. So a preacher and the midwife, they told me about an orphanage …” A sob erupted from her throat and she couldn’t continue.

Maggie sat still, eyes wide. “Did he know about the child?”

Chloe shook her head, hot tears burning her eyes.

She could barely swallow past the lump in her throat and the ache in her chest. “I changed my last name to what it is now—Whitfield. I … I made a living as best I could, but I couldn’t stay in any one place too long …

until I ended up here.” She gave her friend a soft, sad smile.

“It’s been so nice, living here in Piney, working at the bakery, having you for a friend … ”

A tear slid down Maggie’s cheek, the sight of it nearly breaking Chloe’s heart.

She wanted to stay but couldn’t. “I need to find her, Maggie. I love her more than anything in the world. I’ve worked hard for all these years to earn enough money to go back and find out if she has a good home now, that she’s safe and happy. I need to make sure she’s all right.”

“But Chloe, if you left her in an orphanage, chances are she’s been adopted by now,” she said gently. “She’s what? Six years old now? And if she has a new family, you … you wouldn’t take her—”

“I need to know she’s all right,” Chloe confessed. “I need to know what’s happened to her.” She gazed at Maggie, wanting, needing for her to understand.

“Of course you must go,” Maggie said, wrapping both her hands around Chloe’s. Another tear slid down her cheek. “I’ll miss you dearly, of course, but I understand.” She paused for several moments. “I have some money saved up. It’s not much, but you can have it—”

“No, I can’t take—”

“You can and you will,” Maggie said. “I’m your friend, Chloe, and I always will be, whether you’re living here in Piney or you find a home wherever it is you may end up. I just want you to do me one favor, all right?”

“Anything,” Chloe murmured, feeling more alone at this moment than she’d felt in years.

“Never forget me, Chloe. I know I’ll never forget you.

You’ve made me stronger through your faith and determination and your devotion to those you care about.

” She squeezed Chloe’s hands. “For those reasons and many more, I’ll always treasure your friendship.

I only wish you God’s protection and blessing. ” Her eyes filled with tears.