Thinking his aim had been true, Lee dropped his hand and ran to where Patience lay. “Patience!” he cried as he stepped over Otis to get to her.
Suddenly Lee was falling. Someone had grabbed his ankle. He managed to turn, as to not fall on top of Patience. He was just about to regroup and point his gun at the source of who made him fall, but he was too late.
Otis was already standing up, his pistol aimed steadily at Lee. Otis glanced at his bloody arm and laughed nastily. “You just nicked me, lawman. I guess good help is hard to find in backwater towns like this, huh?”
Lee dropped his gun, his concern for Patience only. “Otis, listen. You have to let me check the girl. She’s just an innocent bystander in all this,” Lee pleaded.
Otis sneered as he picked up Lee’s gun. “You can check her after I get Bubba out of here.”
Slowly, he made his way to the desk and felt around for the key, his eyes and gun remaining on Lee.
Lee looked over to Patience. He could see the hole in her leather coat and the red stain on her gown where the coat gaped. But hope arose in his heart when he saw the faint movement of gown. She was alive!
He briefly closed his eyes and gave a prayer of thanks to God, then he opened them and watched as Otis let his brother out of the cell.
Then Otis waved his pistol in a gesture telling Lee to move into the cell. “Now it’s your turn to spend a little time behind bars,” Otis said with a terrible smile. “Pick the woman up and get in.”
Lee cast a worried glance toward Patience and then looked pleadingly back at Otis. “Otis, please. She needs a doctor. If you’ll just let me …”
“My heart’s bleedin’, Sheriff. Now quit wasting my time and get in here!” he ordered menacingly.
With a sinking heart, Lee lovingly gathered Patience in his arms and carried her into the cell. While he laid her on the cot, he heard the clang of metal hitting metal as the cell door shut. He didn’t relax until he heard them leave the office.
Quickly, Lee stripped the coat off of her and ripped the gown open at the shoulder.
Tears of relief and joy gathered in his eyes when he saw the wound. It seemed that he hadn’t been the only bad shot that night. The bullet had merely grazed her shoulder; and although it had bled a lot at first, it had already started slowing.
Patience hadn’t fallen unconscious because of her wound. She had only fainted!
Chapter 16
Patience. Patience!” She heard someone call from a long way off. What was touching her face? It felt like someone was tapping her cheeks. It certainly was annoying!
“Come on, Patience! Wake up!” Tap, tap, tap…
Well, the voice sounded like Lee, but Lee couldn’t be trying to wake her up! Maybe her mother had a cold.
Tap, tap, tap …
Irritated, Patience slapped the object that was tapping her face. “Mmmm … Quit it,” she mumbled.
She barely opened her eyes and saw Lee’s face looming before her. “Oh … it is you,” she said and then closed her eyes.
Two seconds later, her eyes sprang wide open as she stared at Lee in disbelief.
“Lee! What are you doing in my bedroom?”
Lee looked at her as though she’d lost her mind. “Patience, we aren’t in your bedroom. We’re at my office,” he explained patiently. His face looked haggard and weary.
She frowned. “What are we doing in your office?”
He looked at her, biting his lip as if contemplating what to tell her. “Uh … You don’t remember coming in here?” She shook her head, and he sighed. “Well, you did, and … you were shot.” He pointed to her bandaged shoulder.
Patience looked over and saw the blood all over her nightgown. Then she noticed the bulk of the bandage that he’d made from a pillowcase underneath.
“You shot me?” she asked with disbelief. “Am I all right? I’m not dying, am I?”
Lee let out an aggravated breath of air. “No, I didn’t shoot you, Patience! How could you think that? And you’re not dying. Believe me, you wouldn’t be this chatty if you were. You were just nicked; you’re fine.”
She shook her head and winced at the pain—her shoulder was really aching. “Who shot me, then?”
“Take it easy,” he soothed, laying a gentle hand on the bandage, making sure it was still tight. “Remember the outlaw I was guarding?” She nodded. “Well, his brother caught me off guard, and you got caught in the middle. Then they locked us up in here,” he said, motioning about the cell.
She looked over at the bars. “We’re in the jail cell!”
“Yeah. And I don’t think we’re going to get out of here until daybreak, when Billy comes in to relieve me.”
For some reason the meaning of that comment didn’t register because suddenly her memory was triggered.
“Oh no!” she cried, sitting up. She tried to ignore the pain in her shoulder. “My mother!”
“For goodness’ sake, Patience! You’re going to make it start bleeding again!” He checked her bandage again. “Now, what’s this about your mother?”
She grabbed Lee’s arm. “Lee, I think my mother is ill. I tried to find the doctor, but he wasn’t home! That’s why, when I saw your lights, I came over here!”
“I was wondering what you were doing out this late … especially after what happened to you the last time.”
Her eyes widened. “You know about that?”
He nodded grimly.
She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. “Lee, we have to get out of here!” She jumped up, walking to the door and shaking it.
Lee followed her and took her by her good arm. “Patience, just calm down. We ain’t goin’ nowhere! Now tell me exactly what happened with your mother.”
Patience reluctantly allowed Lee to lead her to the cot. “We were talking about me meeting with Mr. Touchet, and she suddenly turned pale and began shaking like she couldn’t stop. She grabbed at her chest and ran to her room.” She looked pleadingly at Lee. “Sheriff, we’ve got to help her!”
Lee held his hands up, trying to calm her down. “Whoa, there. Now it seems to me that your mother wasn’t ill, she was just upset over this … this Touchet feller.” He snorted. “She ain’t the only one!”
Patience frowned. “But why would his name upset her? She’s never met him.”
Lee was thoughtful for a minute. “But what if she had? What if he did something to scare her, and she is afraid? Has she been acting differently since he came into town?”
Patience thought back over the last month and how her mother rarely left the house. “Now that you mention it … she has been acting strange,” she admitted.
“Okay, now think about this. She knows something bad about him and is scared of meeting up with him, then you come along and say that you are acquainted with him, and she gets upset!” Lee surmised.
She didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know, Sheriff. What if you’re wrong? What if she’s really sick?”
Lee sighed and leaned against the wall. “Then worrying about it ain’t going to help matters none. We just have to pray and hope for the best.”
Patience looked at Lee and felt strength and comfort radiating from him. He made her feel so secure when she would have otherwise felt so bad. “Sheriff? Will … you pray with me?” she asked timidly.
He smiled and held out his hand to her. “Sure, just take my hand.”
She laid her hand in his large callused one and bowed her head.
Lee felt the familiar jolt that he usually felt when he touched her. This time it was coupled with something else—he felt fiercely protective of her. He wanted to take her fears away and be her strength. But all he could do was pray.
But it was enough.
“Dear Lord, we first thank You for keeping us safe from death or serious injury. We know that it could have been worse. But, Lord, we want to ask You, now, to look after Patience’s mama. If she’s ill, we ask that You heal her; and if she’s upset, we ask that You comfort h
er. We thank You for hearing and answering our prayers, Lord. In Your name, Amen.”
They lifted their eyes and stared at each other. Lee wanted to say something to her, to make it all right, but he couldn’t think of a word to say.
The silence became awkward, and Patience looked away with a blush staining her cheeks.
Lee let go of her hand. He stood up from where he’d been kneeling by the bed and began to pace the cell.
So many words popped into his head. So many things he wanted to tell her. Did he dare? Of course not. Now was not the time to announce that he was in love with her! She would probably think he was crazy!
So he decided to ask the question that had been burning in his mind for weeks now. “Are you and Bobby Joe still courting?”
She looked at him with a blank expression on her face. “Bobby Joe? I was never being courted by Bobby Joe!” she said with a slight laugh.
Lee was confused. “But I kept seeing you with him all over town, and then you brought his daughter to church.”
Patience rolled her eyes. “Oh for goodness’ sake! I was just trying to talk him into letting Beth attend church and school. He is so unsure on how he should raise her, so I thought that I would help him.”
Lee stared at her and thought of all the sleepless nights he worried that they were getting serious!
Patience tucked her hair behind her ears and then smoothed the covers at her waist. “So,” she began in a conversational tone, “what about you and Susannah? Have you proposed yet?”
He looked at her and then looked away, hiding his smile. She knew good and well that he and Susannah did not see each other anymore. But he answered her anyway. “No. We’ve decided that we’re not suited.”
“Oh,” was all she said as she went back to smoothing her covers. “I suppose that’s good, then. I mean … that you’ve realized you’re not suited before you get married.”
Lee continued to smile. “Yes, it is….” He wiped the silly grin off his face and turned to where she was. “Well, I guess we better get to sleep. I’ll just take the extra blanket and bunk down over here,” he told her, pointing to the other side of the cell from where she lay in the cot.
Wearily, she nodded and scooted down in her covers to lie flat.
He walked over to her. “Does your shoulder hurt?” he asked with concern as he checked her bandage again.
She shook her head. “Not really. I just feel dirty with all this blood caked to my skin and clothes.”
Lee smiled and reached for the blanket. “Tomorrow will come soon enough. Just get some sleep.”
“Good night, Lee,” she called out to him when he’d rolled himself up in the blanket on the hard floor. Her voice sounded sleepy.
Lee smiled when he heard her using his first name. “Good night, darlin’,” he said on impulse and waited for what she’d say.
But from the other side of the room came nothing but silence.
Sighing, Lee tightened the covers around himself and tried to think of anything that would take his mind off of how cold and hard the floor was.
But most of all, he didn’t want to think about how close Patience was and the fact that he still could not call her his own.
“Oh dear Lord in Heaven, spare us all from the shame!”
The sound of Prudence Primrose’s screechy cry brought both Patience and Lee fully awake. Like a shot, they bolted up in sitting positions from their makeshift beds.
Patience, still covered with the blanket, grabbed her shoulder and winced. Lee clutched at his back and did the same. It had not been a restful night for either of them.
“This is disgraceful!” her mother announced.
Patience blinked a couple of times and then smiled. “Mama! You’re all right!” she cried joyfully.
Prudence’s mouth drew up tightly as if she’d been sucking on a lemon. “I most certainly am not all right! I cannot believe it has come to this.” She sniffed. “Well, I must do the only thing I can and do it quickly before the scandal spreads!”
After that little speech, she whirled around and marched out of the room, leaving a bewildered Patience looking after her.
She looked over at Lee and saw him gripping the sides of his head. “What did she mean?” she wondered aloud.
He shook his head. “I don’t know, I wasn’t listening. Have you ever tried sleeping on a floor? My back hurts, my head hurts, and I feel like I’m getting a cold or something,” he complained.
Patience looked at the man and then rolled her eyes. Good grief! What a com-plainer! With a sigh, she lay back on the cot. “She left without letting us out!”
Lee finally focused on Patience. “Why did she do that?”
“I don’t know. She said something about a scandal and walked out!”
There was silence from Lee’s side of the room for a moment, before Patience heard him say, “Uh oh.”
Before Patience could say another word, the door to the office opened. Patience sat back up and looked at the door and then looked at Lee with question. But he wasn’t looking at her—he was staring grimly at the people who had just walked into the office. They walked until they stood in front of the cell door.
Her mother was back. But she’d brought someone with her.
Reverend Caleb Stone.
“Well,” Brother Caleb began. “Let me be the first to congratulate you both.”
Patience frowned. “For what?” She looked again at Lee and wondered why he was being so quiet.
“Why, on your marriage, of course!”
Chapter 17
My what?” Patience asked, aghast.
Brother Caleb opened his mouth to reply, but Prudence beat him to it.
“What are you doing in here with the sheriff, young lady? Don’t you realize the shame … the disgrace, humiliation… the … the scandal, the …”
Brother Caleb interrupted her. “Mrs. Primrose, I think you better let me explain to them why you think they need to marry.”
“There’s no time for explaining. Just get on with the ceremony!” Prudence demanded, folding her arms tightly across her chest.
“Wait!” Patience cried. “You don’t understand.” She looked at Lee. “Well, say something, Lee!”
He looked at her calmly and shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”
She couldn’t believe he was being so calm about all this! “Tell them what happened. About the outlaws and … and the shooting!” She pulled the blanket, down exposing her bloody gown. “I was even shot!”
Brother Caleb looked incredulously at Lee. “You shot her?”
Lee scowled. “No, I did not shoot her. Why does everyone naturally assume it was me?”
“Patience Anne Primrose!” her mother screeched. “What are you doing in your nightgown?” She put her hand on her forehead. “This is worse than I thought.”
Patience couldn’t help but be hurt that her mother was not concerned about her being shot or locked in the jail cell by outlaws.
“Lee, is Patience all right? Who did this?” Brother Caleb interjected.
“Oh, the scandal of it all …”
“It was the prisoner and his brother.”
“How could you leave the house wearing only your nightgown?”
“You mean they escaped?”
Patience closed her eyes, her head was spinning with everything that had happened to her and what was going on now. Everything was so chaotic. So mixed up. So confusing!
“Stop it!” she yelled out to the room as loud as she could. She opened her eyes to find all three of them staring at her as if she were crazy.
But at least they were quiet.
“I want everyone to be quiet and listen for a moment, okay?” She looked around the room and glared at them all until they nodded in agreement. Quickly, she told them everything that had happened, from her trying to find the doctor, to how they ended up in the jail.
There was nothing but silence that followed her incredible story.
Prudence
cleared her throat. “Well, be that as it may, it doesn’t matter. You did spend the night together, all alone, therefore, you must get married.”
“No!”
“Okay.”
The words were spoken at the same time.
“I cannot believe you agree to this!” Patience looked at Lee.
Lee just shrugged. “It doesn’t look like we have much choice!”
Patience knew that was the way he felt—that he was only agreeing to the marriage because her mother was forcing him. Because of appearance. It just stung to hear it from his lips. She lowered her eyes and looked away.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back. That wasn’t what he wanted to say at all! He wanted to tell her that he wanted to marry her because he loved her! But thanks to his big mouth, she’d never believe it now.
“Patience … I …”
“What do you mean, no, young lady?” her mother demanded.
A defiant, determined look came over Patience’s expression as she faced her mother. “It means that I will not marry Leander Cutler! It’s humiliating to marry a man who feels forced into it!”
“Patience, that’s not …”
“Miss Patience, I realize that it’s not the most ideal way to get married, but I was under the impression that you and Lee were friends. Surely a marriage based on friendship can grow into love,” the preacher tried to counsel.
Lee tried again. “But I already …”
“That wasn’t the way you felt about Rachel, was it, Brother Caleb? You both already loved each other. That’s what I want!” Patience told him with quiet conviction.
“But I can …”
Once again Lee was interrupted; and he felt so frustrated, he didn’t know what to do!
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, get on with it, Reverend!” Prudence ordered, her impatience evident. “And you, Patience! Not another word!”
“I won’t do it!”
“You must do it!”
“Patience, I …” Lee tried to butt in.
“Patience, please be reasonable—”
“I am being reasonable—”
Lone Star Romance Collection Page 24