* * *
The afternoon was hot but beautiful. And here under the shade of the oak, even the heat was made bearable.
Hazel handed Ward one of the sandwiches she’d made, then folded her hands primly in her lap.
“Aren’t you going to eat with me?” Ward asked.
Hazel shook her head. “I’m not really hungry.” Truth to tell, her stomach was too unsettled for her to eat anything. She was both anxious and reluctant to have this conversation with him.
He set his sandwich back in the hamper. “All right, let’s have it. What did you want to discuss?”
“You know good and well what I want to discuss. Us, our future.”
“Hazel, we’ve been through this before. I care for you a great deal, but I believe, all things considered, you and Meg would be better off if you get on that train with your aunt when she leaves the day after tomorrow.”
The look he gave her was intense. “However, if you decide to stay, you need to know two things. One, I insist on giving you the protection of my name so that both you and Half-pint are shielded from gossip. And two, it will be a marriage in name only. I’ll continue to live in my house and you in yours.”
This was even worse that she could have imagined. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
“I care for you, Hazel, more than I realized perhaps. But if I moved in with you and Meg, if we tried to make a real marriage of it, I could never be the sheriff I want to be. Being sheriff requires that my job come first, and that’s just the way it has to be.”
“Does it? Have to be that way, I mean?” Why couldn’t he see he was so much more?
“Being sheriff is who I am. If I wasn’t sheriff, then I don’t know who or what I’d be.”
“You’d be the man I love,” she said softly. “Wouldn’t that be enough?”
His expression shifted, softened, and she thought for a moment she’d won him over. But then he stood and turned away.
She had her answer. Apparently that wasn’t enough for him.
She stood and lifted the hamper with the uneaten food, trying to hold on to her composure at least until she could reach the privacy of her bedroom.
“I’ll break the news to Meg when she wakes from her nap. She’s going to take it hard.”
“She’ll get over it, in time.”
Hazel wasn’t so sure of that. Without another word she turned and walked away, leaving Ward standing under the oak, alone.
Just the way he wanted it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hazel sat between her aunt and Meg as the train pulled out of the Turnabout station. Meg kept her nose glued to the window as the train chugged down the tracks. Farther away from Ward with each passing clickety-clack of the wheels.
Finally Meg turned away from the window and huddled in her seat, burying her tear-stained cheeks in her doll. Separating the little girl from Ward had been every bit as painful as Hazel had feared it would be.
Though there had been promises of letter writing and return visits, the little girl hadn’t understood why she couldn’t stay and now was obviously feeling confused and betrayed.
Ward had wanted to send Pugs along with them but Meg wouldn’t hear of it. Even though she was hurt and scared by all the decisions the grown-ups were making for her, she insisted Ward needed to keep Pugs so he wouldn’t be all alone after they left.
Hazel had seen the stoic sheriff almost break down at that point. It served him right as far as she was concerned.
Hazel tried to push away thoughts of all she was leaving behind by focusing on her surroundings inside the train. There was a harried-looking woman with two children in the row in front of them and a snoring gentleman in the row behind. The conductor stood in the aisle several rows ahead, listening to an officious-looking gentleman with a ridiculously long mustache level complaints about the lack of comfort provided by the seats.
Other conversations were going on around her but Hazel did her best not to listen to specifics. Instead she let all of the voices and sounds blend together, providing a buzzing backdrop for her unhappy thoughts.
“Are you paying attention, dear?”
Her aunt’s question brought Hazel’s mind back in focus. “I’m sorry, Aunt Opal. I guess my mind was wandering.”
“Are you sure you made the right decision?”
Hazel didn’t pretend to misunderstand. She was tired of pretending. She pitched her voice so Meg wouldn’t hear. “He doesn’t love me.”
“Are you sure?”
“He told me straight-out that his job had to come first.”
Her aunt shook her head sympathetically. “That poor man. Let’s hope he comes to his senses before it’s too late.” She gave Hazel a pointed look. “Of course you won’t be around to see it even if he does come to his senses.”
What was her aunt trying to say? Did she think Hazel had made the wrong decision? Didn’t she want her to move to New York to work with her?
What about this opportunity that had opened up for her, this new adventure? There had to be a reason it had come along at just this point in her life. Was she supposed to just ignore it in favor of an uncertain future in Turnabout?
“George!” The woman in front of them was sounding more and more strident, her irritation obviously rising. “I told you, do not open that window.”
“But, Mother, I’m hot.”
“I’m sorry but if you open the window it’ll just let soot and dust in. Not all windows are meant to be opened.”
Not all windows are meant to be opened. Those words reverberated in Hazel’s mind. She said she’d prayed over this and she had. But had she really waited on God for her answer? Or had she tried to wrest control of the situation from Him and step through the first opportunity that came her way?
She’d been looking at this as an either-or situation—either she’d win Ward’s love or she’d move to New York. But those weren’t really her only choices.
The Good Lord had given her a great gift—the opportunity to be a mother. Perhaps she was not meant to be a wife. But she could be a good mother to Meg. And being a good mother meant doing what was best for the child. And she was beginning to think that what was best was not going to be found in New York City.
And so what if Ward had given her an ultimatum that if she chose to stay she would have to enter into an in-name-only marriage? His was not the final say on that matter. If she wanted to stay single and raise Meg, that was her business. And if she had to battle a mob of self-righteous matrons for the right to do it, then she would do that as well.
Her finances were still an issue, especially with a child to care for now. But she had an idea on how to handle that situation as well.
Suddenly feeling better than she had in quite a long time, Hazel turned to her traveling companion.
Only to discover her aunt Opal smiling knowingly at her. “You’ve made a decision, I see.”
Hazel nodded. “Meg and I will be getting off at the next stop and heading back to Turnabout. I’m sorry if—”
“No need to explain, my dear. I’m just glad you finally came to your senses.”
“But your business—”
“Will be just fine. Gracie may not be kin but she is very talented and very dedicated. She’ll do a fine job running Eldridge Fashion Design.”
Hazel gave her aunt a hug. Then she leaned back and gave her aunt a speculative look. “In the meantime, I have a business proposition I’d like to discuss with you.”
Her aunt raised a brow, then nodded. “I’m listening.”
* * *
Ward walked down the sidewalk of town. When he turned on Second Street, he tried to ignore the now-vacant dress shop. He knew Verity intended to keep it open as a hat shop, but she planned to wait a little while before reopeni
ng it.
Turnabout without Hazel in it already seemed like a duller place. And she’d been gone less than a day.
Verity stepped out of the saddlery shop and stopped him with a hail. “Good morning, Sheriff. It looks like we might be in for a little rain later today.”
“Could be. The farmers will be glad to get it.” And it would match his mood.
“Joy certainly does miss Meg. Nearly as much as I miss Hazel.” She cut him a sideways glance, as if expecting him to spill his guts to her. Or perhaps his heart.
“New York will be good for them, both of them. Hazel will be around her family, doing what she loves. And Meg will be able to grow up in a big city with all kinds of big-city advantages.”
Verity didn’t seem to share his optimism. “Hazel was doing what she loves here. And the only advantage Meg needs is to be raised in a good home by loving parents.”
He shrugged, not liking the accusatory tone in her voice. “It was her choice to leave.”
“Was it?”
“It was.” But he hadn’t given her much choice. With a tip of his hat, he quickly moved on.
Somehow, without quite planning it, Ward ended up at the cemetery. Removing his hat, he made his way to Bethany’s grave. The grass had grown over it already. He’d have to remember to bring some flowers here next time he came.
Feeling the need to say something, Ward ran his finger along the brim of his hat. “Bethany, I never got to apologize to you properly, not because I didn’t try, but because you didn’t understand. I’m thinking that maybe you understand now so I’m going to say this one more time. I am more sorry than I can ever say that I didn’t look out for you better, that I didn’t keep you safe like I should have. I missed you so much after the accident, missed your laughter and those funny faces you were always making, missed your curiosity and your joy for life, I just missed you. And most of all I missed watching you grow into the amazing woman I know you could have been. I wish I could go back and do it right this time, but we don’t get do-overs in this life. So I just hope you’ll accept my apology and know that I will always love and miss you.”
He put his hat back on and felt a small sense of peace. Then he glanced up and saw the bench and he was suddenly hearing Hazel’s words again, seeing the hurt that he’d put on her face.
You would be the man I love, she’d whispered. Wouldn’t that be enough?
Ward almost fell to his knees as those words finally sunk in and the enormity of the mistake he’d made hit him full force. She’d offered her heart to him, had made herself achingly vulnerable to let him know how she felt, and he’d stomped on her oh-so-precious offering as if it were nothing of any consequence.
How could he have thought his job more important than her love? A job was fleeting, could be taken away on a whim or by a twist of circumstance. But love, true love of the kind she’d offered him, was an incorruptible treasure, something to see him through all of life’s ups and downs.
And he’d cavalierly thrown it back in her face.
He was a fool.
Worse, he was a heartless fool.
He had to find a way to fix this. Surely it couldn’t be too late.
Ten minutes later, Ward was marching into Mayor Sanders’s office.
The public official looked up, clearly startled by Ward’s aggressive entrance. “What can I do for you today, Sheriff?”
“I’ve come to tell you I’m going to be out of town for several days, maybe even a couple of weeks.” He would stay in New York as long as it took to convince Hazel to come back to Turnabout with him.
The mayor raised a brow at that. “When do you plan to leave?”
“Today.”
The man steepled his fingers. “That doesn’t give us much time to make other arrangements.”
“For that I apologize. But I am leaving on this afternoon’s train. And there’s something else you need to know. I plan to marry Hazel, if she’ll have me. And if she does, there will have to be some changes. I’ll still do the job to the best of my ability, but not seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. Which means the town will need to hire a deputy, someone who can share the responsibility with me. If that doesn’t work for you, then you should probably find a new sheriff.”
And without waiting for a response, Ward marched out.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hazel sat on the edge of her seat, staring out the train window as they rounded the final turn heading into Turnabout. She and Meg had had to spend the night at the hotel in Kittering while they waited for the westbound train.
Even with a now-happy and excited Meg to entertain, the time had passed slowly, like watching a slug cross a garden walk. She hadn’t slept well but not because she was second-guessing her decision—this felt more right than anything had in a long time.
No, it was because she couldn’t wait to get back to Turnabout. She wasn’t certain what kind of reception she’d get from Ward, especially when she informed him there was no way she’d agree to an in-name-only marriage, but for Meg’s sake they would work it out.
And she had a new venture to keep her busy. She and Aunt Opal had had a long talk while waiting for the train to make its first stop. Hazel had discussed adding a children’s clothing line to her aunt’s offerings. Her aunt had already said how impressed she was with the clothing Hazel had made for Meg so it hadn’t taken much to sell her on the idea. And Hazel declared herself confident that she could work on the designs and the actual creations from her home in Turnabout and ship the finished products to New York when she was done.
Aunt Opal had agreed to give it a six-month trial. It was an amazing compromise and Hazel couldn’t wait to get started.
But first, there was Ward to confront.
The train began to slow and Meg started bouncing eagerly in her seat. “Won’t Sheriff Gleason be surprised to see us?”
A definite understatement. “That he will.” She patted Meg’s knee. “And I imagine Joy will be happy to see you as well.”
Her plan was to drop Meg off at Verity’s while she had her initial confrontation with Ward. Ward and Meg could have their reunion afterward.
As soon as the train came to a complete stop, Hazel and Meg were ready to disembark. Making sure she had a firm hold on the little girl’s hand, Hazel headed for the depot office. She’d make arrangements to have their bags delivered and then—
Hazel stopped dead in her tracks. Striding out of the depot was Ward himself.
Meg had spotted him as well. “Sheriff Gleason!” she screeched at the top of her lungs, and launched herself straight at him.
Ward whipped around, Hazel’s surprise mirrored in his own expression. Then his face split in a wide grin as he swooped down and lifted Meg high in the air. “Aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes?”
Meg giggled as he brought her to rest on his hip. “Are you surprised to see us?”
“Very surprised. And very happy.” His eyes met Hazel’s as he said that and she blinked, not quite believing what she saw reflected there.
Then he turned back to Meg. “Half-pint, what do you say we bring you over to Joy’s house so you can surprise her too? Then you can stay and play with her while me and Miss Hazel have a little talk.”
His high-handed manner irritated Hazel, though she wasn’t quite sure why it should, since it was identical to what she herself had planned. As they set off for the Coopers’ place, Ward casually tucked Hazel’s hand on his arm, covering her hand possessively with his, but they allowed Meg to monopolize the conversation.
Hazel was thrown completely off balance by this Ward, who was so different from the one she’d left behind just yesterday. How would this Ward react to the stand she planned to take?
It seemed a matter of mere seconds and they were standing in front of the saddlery shop. Veri
ty rushed out as soon as she spotted her and gave her a big hug right there on the sidewalk. Joy and Meg had a similarly happy reunion.
Then Ward cleared his throat. “Mrs. Cooper, might we impose on you to keep an eye on Meg while Miss Andrews and I go for a walk?”
Verity gave them a knowing look, then made shooing motions with her hands. “Go. Take as long as you need. We’ll be fine here.”
With a tip of his hat, Ward led Hazel away, still keeping her hand secured on his arm.
Not that she minded. It was actually kind of nice holding on to him this way. She was surprised, though, to find he was leading her to the churchyard and then on to the cemetery.
He handed her down to the bench. “If I recall, you find this a good place for private talks.”
“I do.” Was he going to insist yet again that she allow him to give her the protection of his name?
“First let me say how very happy I am that you’ve returned to Turnabout.”
“And I’m glad to be back. But there is something I need to make very clear.” She had to get this out before she lost her nerve. Because the way he was looking at her was sending little bubbles dancing around in her insides. “I don’t care what your code of honor tells you that you must do, I absolutely will not take part in an in-name-only marriage. I am quite able to stand up to whatever gossip might remain from our little indiscretion that wasn’t really an indiscretion at all.” She was babbling a bit, but she was finding it hard to concentrate when he was looking at her with what she could only call joy in his eyes.
“You’re quite right.”
She blinked. “I am?”
“Absolutely. I should never have demanded such a thing from you.”
Now she was thoroughly confused.
He sat and took one of her hands. “It’s my turn to make something very clear. By returning, you saved me from having to undertake a long, anxious trip, though it is no less than what I deserve.”
“Trip? You mean you weren’t at the depot to send a telegram?”
“No.” He fished something out of his pocket. “I was purchasing a ticket for the next eastbound train.”
A Tailor-Made Husband Page 23