“No, I couldn’t. Honest. It isn’t necessary. I don’t need a new gown.”
“Yes, you do,” Granny insisted. “You are going to be singing again next week, and you need a new gown.”
“But everyone has already come to hear me, ma’am. In a town this size, I can only get one, maybe two performances until I lose money.”
“Nonsense. God will provide. And you’ll come back to the ranch with me to stay until you have the money to move on.”
“I just don’t know what to say.” Vivienne’s eyes filled again.
You could say no, Laney thought ungraciously.
“I have no choice but to accept. I just hope you won’t regret it.”
Laney spun around and stomped to the door. She jerked it open and slammed it shut behind her. That floozy! Weaseling her way into Luke’s family’s ranch. Laney wouldn’t stand for it. No siree.
Planting her hands on her hips, she glanced around the town and tried to gain her composure. What else could go wrong today? Then, with a groan, she remembered the hearing. They were five minutes late.
Chapter 12
Laney’s nerves remained taut while the judge listened to the witness seated on his left, his fingers pressed thoughtfully against his graying temple. The prosecutor waxed eloquent, and Laney had to admit if she were the judge, she’d lock up her pa and throw away the key.
She glanced at Mr. Carpenter, the businessman who had been robbed, as he sat on the makeshift witness stand, answering question after question about the awful night three men had invaded his home while he and his family slept only a few rooms away.
He had awakened to the noise of the prowlers and gone to investigate. When he confronted the three men, one of the robbers—Matt, Laney surmised, from the description—fired his weapon and shot the man right in the arm. He still had nightmares about it. And would the judge please make the men pay back his money?
When all was said and done, Pa was found guilty. Laney felt a sense of relief as the judge pronounced a sentence of life in prison rather than hanging. Still, one look at Pa’s sickly face, and she knew he wouldn’t last a week in prison—even a mild one. As the judge raised his gavel to finalize his sentence, Laney scrambled to her feet.
“Excuse me, Your Honor.”
The judge glanced up. “What can I do for you, miss?”
Laney slowly made her way to the front of the schoolhouse. “I appreciate you going easy on my pa. I guess some folks feel like he deserves to hang for stealing a man’s hard-earned money. I’m trying to buy a little piece of land and a soddy myself, so I can surely understand their way of thinking. But you see…” She cleared her throat and gazed directly into the bewildered judge’s eyes. “The thing is, my pa’s a very sick man. He’s not going to be around much longer as it is, so sending him to prison will be a waste of time. I was thinking maybe you’d just let him come home with me so he can spend the rest of his days with me taking care of him. And don’t worry. If he gets well—which Sam says he won’t—I’ll send him straight to the sheriff so he can take his punishment fair and square.”
“I’m sorry.” The judge leaned toward her, confusion clouding his eyes. “What are you asking me?”
“Can he come home with me?” What kind of smarts did it take to be a judge, anyway?
“Let me get this straight,” Judge Campbell said with a firmness that made Laney squirm. “You would like for me to suspend your father’s sentence and allow him to go home with you instead of to prison.”
“Yes sir.”
“I’m afraid that just isn’t—”
Laney leaned over the teacher’s desk the judge was using as his bench. She dropped her tone so that the occupants of the small room couldn’t hear. “Are you a Christian, Your Honor?”
“Now don’t start using my faith against me,” he said, giving her a stern frown. “Your father must pay for his crime.”
“Yes sir. I know what he did was wrong. But he only has a short time to live, under the best of conditions. If you send him to prison, he’ll die in a godless, sinful state. And you know where sinners go when they die. Can you send a sinful man to his death?”
“I certainly can,” he said. “The matter is settled.” He raised the gavel again.
A sense of urgency tugged at Laney, and she grabbed the judge’s arm. “Wait!”
“I beg your pardon.”
“Please. Won’t you consider my suggestion? What good will it do to send him to prison? He’ll be dead in a month if you do.”
The judge glanced at her thoughtfully for a moment, then opened his mouth as though ready to relent.
“Excuse me, Your Honor.”
The judge sighed heavily. “Yes?”
Laney turned to find Mr. Carpenter approaching the judge. “I will see this man punished for his crime. My family lost a great deal of money that he took and squandered for his own pleasure. He must be made to pay.”
An idea formed in Laney’s mind, and she addressed the wronged man. “How much did my pa and his partners take from you?”
She started at the amount. “If I give you my pa’s cut of your money”—she turned to the judge—“then will you consider it?”
“If restitution is made, I could possibly consider your request, under the circumstances.”
“But that’s only a third of what was taken from me.” The man’s whine was beginning to irritate Laney. “I will not stand for it!” He pounded his fist on the desk. “I’ll take it to a higher court. I’ll write to the governor.”
The judge glanced from Mr. Carpenter to Laney. “I’m sorry, miss. This isn’t worth the headache to me. My decision stands.” For a third time, he raised his gavel.
“Wait. One more thing.” Laney gritted her teeth, unable to believe she was about to voice the thoughts twisting through her mind. “I will pay Mr. Carpenter everything my pa and those two no-good scoundrels stole, if you’ll only allow him to come home and die in peace.”
The judge cast a questioning glance at Mr. Carpenter. “How’s that sound to you? The girl pays you the money, I let Jenkins go home to die, and you drop the whole thing and don’t raise a fuss about it.”
The man rocked on his heels and screwed up his face as though considering the proposition, but Laney could tell by the gleam in his eye that he had already made up his mind.
“I can accept that.”
“Good. It’s done.” The judge slammed the gavel down on the desk before anyone else could interrupt. “And if by some miracle that scoundrel happens to recover, I don’t want to hear about it.”
Relief coursed through Laney. “I’ll head over to the bank right now.” She spun on her heel and walked down the aisle toward the door. Luke rose as though he would follow, but she waved him back to his seat. She glared at Pa on the way out. God forgive me, but I think I hate him. After all the low-down things he’s done in his life, now he’s off the hook, and I’m paying all I have to buy his freedom.
She dashed a tear from her cheek. Mr. Garner wouldn’t be getting a large lump sum of money after all. Her loan payment was due tomorrow, but there wasn’t any possible way she could pay. She would lose her dream.
For the first time, she truly understood how Luke felt about not going west.
Pa wasn’t even grateful! Laney kicked at a pebble, sending it sailing into the rippling creek. The cantankerous, ungrateful swindler didn’t even care what she had sacrificed to give him a little more time on this earth! Disappointment swelled her chest, threatening to spill over in hot tears.
One month, Garner had said. One month to raise the money to make up for the payment she owed him plus the payment due at the end of that amount of time.
Even with Granny’s help, she couldn’t work hard enough to raise the money. She sat hard on the damp prairie earth that only now was beginning to turn green with the promise of an early spring. Hugging her knees to her chest, Laney gave a weary sigh and rested her chin on her arms.
A cool, gentle breeze played
with the loose tendrils around her face and brought the fresh scents of budding wildflowers to her nostrils, but she found no pleasure in the small reminder that all things were becoming new once again on the prairie. To Laney, all that was new and promising in her life had been taken away with the money she’d handed over to Mr. Carpenter.
Her mind raced with the possibilities of what she could do to save her soddy. She already knew Mr. Thomas at the bank wouldn’t extend her a loan, because she had tried that before, asking Garner to carry the note.
Suddenly she lifted her chin, her eyes growing wide at the possibility of the forming idea. What about Luke? He had mentioned before that he had money saved. Laney’s heart raced. That was the solution. This was to be their land after all.
Of course she couldn’t ask him for the money. But Luke knew what she had done. Once he realized the implications of paying back what Pa had stolen, he would surely offer the money, and they would have their land.
She smiled for the first time in two days, took a deep cleansing breath, and stood. She wouldn’t lose her land after all.
Luke stood on the front porch of the St. John ranch and gaped at Pa, unable to believe what he was actually hearing. “Are you telling me you want me to go?”
Pa nodded. “There’s a wagon train pulling into Council Grove in a couple of months. You have plenty of time to get things settled here—marry Laney, get to Council Grove, and get outfitted before they pull out.”
“But what about the ranch? You can’t…”
“Hired Floyd Henderson today to manage the place. He was about to pull up stakes and head back east until I convinced him to stay and run the ranch for me. I’m happy with my decision. Now you’re free, Luke. You’ve done more for me than I can say, and I appreciate it. But I can’t let you sacrifice your plans for me.”
“I don’t know what to say, Pa. I just assumed…”
“That you were stuck here running the ranch?”
Luke couldn’t deny it, so he said nothing.
“Nothing wrong with wanting to follow your own dreams. Nothing wrong with it at all.” He clapped Luke on the shoulder and hobbled into the house, leaving Luke to stare after him.
An hour later, Luke looked across the pasture, his arms resting on the fence he had built just last week. He heaved a sigh. Everything changed so fast. First he was making plans to go west, only to have those plans upset. Then just as quickly, when he’d resigned himself to never making it to Oregon, Pa offered him the chance to live the life he wanted.
A thrill passed through him as all the dreams he’d stuffed down now sprang to the surface. He thought of plush green fields, acres and acres of cattle grazing on his land. A log home that Laney would be proud to tend. He saw children—his and Laney’s—running and playing about the place.
Laney. Her image in his mind jolted him back to the present. What would she say? Reality broke through as he anticipated her response. She wouldn’t leave Harper. Especially now that her pa and Jane were counting on her. He had made her a promise. Had proposed twice. How could he ask her once more to release him from his promise to marry her? Luke felt pressure overtake him like a ton of water carrying him away against his will.
He couldn’t imagine life without Laney. He couldn’t imagine life without trying to fulfill his dream. The question he needed answered was, which could he live without the easiest? He knew he couldn’t have both.
“It’s a lovely piece of land, Luke.”
Luke started and turned sharply at the sound of Vivienne’s soft voice. He felt the intrusion clench his gut, and he wished he could ask her to leave him alone.
“It is pretty land,” he replied. “There’s lots of pretty land in the country.”
“I heard your pa telling your ma that you’re thinking of heading west.”
“That’s right.”
“You won’t find anything better, no matter where you run to.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
She placed a gentle hand upon his arm. “There’s no maybe about it. Here you have your wonderful family, a woman who loves you and wants to marry you, a town where you’re respected. You’re extremely blessed.”
Luke turned, regarding her thoughtfully. Were Vivienne’s observations an answer from God about what he was supposed to do, or was she just butting in? If only he could be sure that whatever decision he made was the right one.
“What will you do, Miss DuPres?” he asked, if for no other reason than to push aside his own quandary for a while and focus on something else.
She shrugged. “Your granny thinks my performance Friday night will be a success. If only it will provide me with the funds to go someplace new. Maybe someplace back east. Or maybe…” She cut her glance to his. “Maybe I should go west and see what Oregon has to offer a singer. What do you think? Could you use some company on the trip west?”
Luke swallowed hard. How was he supposed to get out of this without offending a lady or making Laney hate him?
Miss DuPres laughed and gave his arm a playful tap. “Don’t worry, Luke. You’re too young for me. Besides, I hear in Oregon there are ten men to every woman. I’d have my pick.”
A sheepish grin tipped Luke’s mouth. “I bet you’d have your pick of men no matter where you go, Miss DuPres.”
“Why, thank you. What a sweet thing to say!”
Before he could stop her, Miss DuPres rose up on her toes and gave him a fat kiss right on his cheek. Luke felt his ears burn. He could have taken a little embarrassment. What he couldn’t take was the sound of Laney’s roar behind him or the look of utter rage on her face when he turned around to face her.
“Luke St. John!” she hollered at the top of her voice. “You…I…I can’t believe…”
This was one time Luke was grateful that the angrier Laney became, the smaller her vocabulary.
“Simmer down,” he said, knowing full well she wouldn’t. “This isn’t anything for you to be jealous about.”
“Jealous? Ha.” She snorted. “You’ll never see a day you can make me jealous.”
“There’s been a misunderstanding.” Miss DuPres stepped forward, her tone conciliatory, if slightly fearful. “It’s all my fault. If you’ll only let me explain.”
“You stay out of this,” Laney commanded. “The first time my back is turned, he goes and kisses another woman just because she’s all soft and womanly. For shame, Luke. How could you go making cow eyes at someone else?”
“I wasn’t making cow eyes at anyone. As a matter of fact, she kissed me. What did you want me to do, knock her flat?”
“I would have!”
“Oh my.” Vivienne pressed her hand to her bosom, looking as though she might faint any minute.
“Honestly,” Laney said, sending her a look of utter disdain. “I wouldn’t hit you. I meant if a man kissed me, I’d knock him flat.”
“You never knocked me flat for kissing you.” Luke moved in closer and took her hands in his.
She jerked away, her face growing pink. “You know what I mean, and don’t try to sweet-talk your way out of this.”
“Really, Laney,” Vivienne pleaded. “Allow me to defend this gentleman’s honor.”
“Gentleman,” Laney said with a sniff. She crossed her arms across her chest. “Fine. Make it quick.”
“Very well. First of all, he’s telling the truth. He didn’t kiss me. I kissed him. And not because I have some dream of snatching him away from you. I kissed him out of gratitude because he offered me a few kind words—words that a woman needs to hear after she’s been lied to, robbed, and abandoned. Your wonderful Luke merely spoke kindly to me. But you have more than his words, you silly girl. You have his love forever.” Vivienne walked past them. She gave Laney a pat on the arm without slowing her gait. “I hope you will appreciate the treasure he is offering you,” she called over her shoulder as she made her way back toward the house.
“Well, that was some speech.” Laney looked up at him. “I guess I acted a little dr
astically, didn’t I?”
“You must be growing up,” Luke said with a chuckle. He swept her around the waist and pulled her close. “I expected a lot worse.”
She laughed and punched his chest. “I could always flatten you now.”
“I’d rather get a kiss.”
She tilted her head and smiled, the look of love in her eyes clouding his senses. Desperation surged inside of him, and he captured her lips, drinking deeply of their softness. He held her tightly, afraid he might lose her if he loosened his grip. Over and over, he kissed her until she wilted against him.
Laney pulled slightly away. “Luke,” she breathed against his lips.
Without answering, he covered her mouth once again. He couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t!
Not until Laney cried out did he loosen his hold.
“Luke, stop it. You’re hurting me!”
He released her suddenly, nearly knocking them both off their feet. Laney gasped and stared at him in bewildered silence. She touched her fingers to her lips.
“Say something, Laney,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“I don’t understand.” She rammed her hands onto her hips, her stance indicating she was ready for a fight. “You’d better explain right now, because I don’t plan on being manhandled. Not even by my husband.”
He groaned inwardly at the thought of her thinking he would ever purposely hurt her. “I’m sorry, honey.” He reached for her, but she quickly stepped away from his arms.
“Don’t pull away, please. I don’t know what came over me. Forgive me.”
“Just don’t ever be that rough with me again, Luke. I mean it.” Laney’s expression softened, and she moved back into his arms.
Relief surged over Luke. “I love you,” he whispered and brushed his lips across the top of her head.
“I love you, too, Lukey,” she murmured against his chest. “I’ll always love you.”
They fell silent and watched the sun sink into a glorious orange sky. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Laney asked.
“Mmm.”
“Just think about all the sunsets we’ll watch together for the rest of our lives, Luke.”
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