Peppermint Sticks for Susie

by Joannie Kay

  They all hurried down the street to the little church at the edge of town. One of Mrs. Neely's rules was that all her boarders attend church weekly unless they were ill. She also made it clear to the men that she did not consider hangovers from too much drinking in the saloon on Saturday night an illness. Therefore, they put on suits and went to church every Sunday.

  Jennifer took her usual seat beside Mrs. Neely and waited for the service to start. The minister was new in town and he'd expressed more than a passing interest in her, and while he didn't make her swoon, she thought he was nice... and cute. As if he knew she was thinking of him the minister came walking down the center aisle and leaned over to speak to her.

  "Miss Jenny, would you sing and play for us today? Mrs. Wickham is ill with gout and was unable to come today. I would surely appreciate your help."

  "Of course Jenny will help you, Reverend Dixon. Doesn't she have a beautiful voice?" Mrs. Neely praised her while doing her best to achieve a little matchmaking.

  "She does indeed, Mrs. Neely, and that is why I asked for her help. Please, Miss Jenny...?"

  "Of course I will, Reverend Dixon," Jennifer shyly answered. She rose from the pew and walked with him into the sacristy, already trying to decide what she wanted to sing. She and the Reverend discussed several ideas, and then she walked out to the organ and took her seat. As was the custom in their church, Jennifer started playing softly a few minutes before the service was to begin. Then she sang a hymn just before Reverend Dixon walked out and invited everyone to join in a hymn. Jennifer played the organ, and led the singing, and then sat back to listen to the message he'd prepared for this week's sermon. As she sat there her eyes were drawn to the back of the church and she spotted U. S. Marshal Alex Martin sitting there, and he was staring at her!

  She felt her cheeks blushing a tell-tale red! Jennifer was positive that everyone in the entire congregation was staring at her and knew all about the way that Alex Martin treated her the night before. In fact, she couldn't help squirming on the padded bench of the organ, her tender bottom reminding her that he'd promised to take her on a picnic then spank her again for kicking him! Jenny was so flustered that she missed her cue for another hymn and Reverend Dixon had to call her name twice to get her attention. Jennifer couldn't recall one other time in her life when she was so acutely embarrassed, and she hurried to the sacristy to hide when the last hymn was finished.

  "Why are you hiding in here, Miss Jenny?" a deep voice she well knew asked from directly behind her.

  "I am not hiding!" she quickly denied, and then wondered if she would go directly to hell for lying in a church and on the Sabbath! When he chuckled she stomped her foot. "Well, I'm not!"

  "Why, Miss Jenny, what would the good Reverend have to say about your fibbing?" Alex teased her.

  "He wouldn't do that! He is a gentleman... unlike some people I know!"

  "Are you ready for our picnic?" Alex came to the point.

  "I didn't agree to go on a picnic with you, Mister U. S. Marshal Alex Martin!"

  "Hush, little girl. You know that I don't want that bandied about. I want folks to get used to me as Alex Martin, a man looking for a small ranch to buy."

  "As if you could fool anyone!"

  "You are in a sassy mood this morning, aren't you, little girl? Do you know what happens to sassy little girls?" he asked.

  "You probably beat them because you are a beast!" Jenny promptly informed him.

  "No, I save that for redheaded brats who kick me and leave a big ole bruise on my leg."

  "Good! I hope it hurts."

  "It does, but not as much as your behind is going to hurt once I cut a switch and take it to you," he promised, certainty in his words. "I'll go and get the buggy I rented and pick up the picnic basket I ordered from the hotel, and then I will pick you up at the boarding house."

  "I am not going with you!"

  "You'd best be there and be ready to go, little girl, or I'll come and find you, and I guarantee you won't sit down for a week by the time I'm done taking you to task."

  "You aren't the boss of me, and you don't have any right to order me around."

  "I'm a man of my word, Miss Jenny." Alex turned on his heel and walked out of the sacristy by the side door.

  Jenny did her best to shake off her temper before she had to face Reverend Dixon and apologize for daydreaming during the service. It was unforgiveable. When he finally entered the sacristy after greeting the parishioners who came to the service, Jennifer stammered out her apologies.

  "I know how you can make it up to me, Miss Jenny," he said with a boyish smile. "Will you do me the honor of joining me in a picnic today? I've been wanting to ask you, but was positive that you must have a beau somewhere...? Mrs. Neely assured me that wasn't true, so I'm hoping you will say yes."

  Jennifer quickly nodded and smiled. "Why yes, Reverend. I would love to go on a picnic with you."

  He grinned at her and said, "Jeffrey. My name is Jeffrey. Don't you think that under the circumstances you could call me by my given name?"

  "Yes, Jeffrey," she agreed. So there too, Mr. U. S. Think you know it all Marshal Alex Martin!

  The spot that Jeffrey picked for their picnic was very secluded and beautiful and Jenny found herself enjoying the outing very much. Jeffrey's housekeeper packed a lovely picnic basket full of goodies and they were both full when they were done discovering all the items inside the basket.

  "So, Miss Jenny, why aren't you already married and raising a bunch of little boys and girls?" Jeffrey asked curiously as they rested beside the stream.

  She tossed a stone into the water just to watch the ripples it would make. "I haven't met anyone I could love," she truthfully replied.

  "Sounds like you have a tall list to fulfill," he gently surmised.

  "No, not really. I just want to find someone who loves me, faults and all, who won't try to change me into something I'm not. I want to be loved and cherished and protected, but I don't want to be trampled on as if my feelings don't matter one little bit." She blushed. "What about you, Jeffrey? Why haven't you married?"

  "Pretty much the same. I haven't met a woman who can tolerate my work, and yet, it is what I do, who I am. I don't have regular hours. I am a minister and when I am needed, day or night, I go. Most women do not like having their plans ruined at the last minute, especially when they have a new dress to wear to the dance in town, and I don't show up as promised because an elderly woman has asked me to come to her bedside."

  "That doesn't seem so terrible to me," Jenny said softly. "It is your job to minister to one and all, and surely that girl knew that...?"

  "She did," he said, then smiled. "I really don't want to discuss Angela right now. I would--What...?" he demanded as he went flying through the air and into the pond.

  "The lady is mine, Reverend. You better look somewhere else!" Alex told the other man before leveling his dark eyes on the shocked redhead. "You are in big trouble now, Miss Jenny."

  Chapter Three

  "How dare you, Alex Martin!" Jennifer stomped her foot on the ground and glared at the lawman! "You help Jeffrey right this minute!" she ordered, pointing toward the pond where the Reverend was splashing and trying to get his footing on the slippery bank. When he fell backwards, Alex grinned in delight. "It is not funny! You are contemptible, Alex Martin!" Jenny shouted at him.

  "Me 'contemptible'?" Alex repeated, pushing his hat back off his forehead. "We had a date, Miss Jenny, and you stood me up to go out with another man. I won't tolerate that out of my woman." When Jenny's mouth dropped open and nothing came out he swept her off her feet and tossed her over his shoulder, giving her rump a sound whack. "Reverend, please excuse us, but Miss Jenny and I are overdue a reckoning."

  Jenny bounced on his shoulder as he stomped away. "Put me down!" she screeched. When he ignored her, she pounded on his back with her fists. "Damn you, Alex, put me down!"

  Alex gave her conveniently placed backside another hearty swat. "Settle dow
n, little girl. I warned you that you wouldn't like it if I had to come looking for you. When I first saw you giving those peppermints sticks to little Susie I thought you were the sweetest lady in the world. You are sweet, but a man has to get past all the temper and brambles to get to the sweet. I aim to do a good job of it, too." He reached the buggy he'd rented and sat her down on the seat. He climbed over her, preventing her from getting up and running off.

  Jennifer was determined to ignore the man as he snapped the reins at the horse and sent him flying down the road at a fast trot. She didn't know why he was making such a big deal over her. She wasn't used to male attention, and she wasn't sure if she liked it. "Why are you doing this, Alex?" she finally asked.

  "Because I think you are worth the effort," he answered her. "You're quite a bit younger than me, and I've certainly seen more of the world than you have. You have no idea how special you are, but I knew when I saw you that you are the girl I've been searching for. I can be patient, and I will give you time to realize that you love me."

  "Love!? Alex, you are frightening me. No one falls in love overnight. No one!" she argued.

  "I did... with you." When she just looked at him in disbelief, he continued, "That is why I was so hurt when I found you with that Preacher. I don't share, Jenny, and you are mine."

  "What if I don't want to be yours?" she demanded.

  "If you can look me in the eye me in a week's time and tell me that you don't love me, then I will walk away. One week, Jenny. One week of being my girl...? Will you give it that much time?"

  "Then you will go away?" she asked.

  "If you still want me to, yes." It would break his heart, but he would do it if that is what she decided.

  "Okay. One week. Now take me home, please. I have plans for this evening."

  "Honey, we have plans together. You have a switching coming to you for kicking me, and then there is the matter of your going on a picnic with the Preacher instead of taking yourself to the boarding house and waiting for me to pick you up."

  "If you think for even one minute that I will permit you to beat on me again, well, you are wrong, Mister! I won't tolerate it!"

  Alex simply smiled at her. "Most ladies would be apologizing for kicking me by now, not scolding me in that tone of voice. I like that you're not scared of me."

  "Alex, did you listen to what I said? I won't permit you to punish me. You earned that kick, and I am not sorry for bruising you! And, I have every right to go out with anyone I wish to go out with."

  "Not after I made plans with you."

  "But, I didn't agree to those plans!"

  "Jenny, stop fussing with me. You're going to get a spanking, and that is that. Sitting for the ride back to town isn't going to be fun for your backside."

  "It wasn't fun for my bottom to ride out here! I am already sore, thanks to you!"

  "And you still decided to push me and test my resolve. Interesting. I think you are the kind of woman who needs a firm hand, Jenny."

  "I do not!" she heatedly denied as he pulled the buggy off the road and into an old, worn path.

  "I don't think we'll be bothered here," he announced.

  "You can't be here, Alex. Seriously, we need to leave immediately. It isn't safe."

  "Why isn't it safe?" he asked, giving her his full attention, but his hand was resting on the butt of his gun, just in case he needed to protect them.

  "The ghost." Her green eyes were serious as could be and Alex realized she was telling him the absolute truth.

  "Ghost?" he repeated. "What ghost?"

  "The ghost of Kieran O'Malley," she was quick to tell him. "Kieran came here in the thirties, before the town was settled. He worked this ranch all by himself for many years, and then one day, after Pine Ridge was settled, he came into town bragging that he'd discovered gold. Folks asked him where, but he wouldn't say. Said he didn't want folks on his land. Then one day some men decided to follow Kieran out of town and see if they could get their hands on some gold, too. Kieran was elderly by then, but he wasn't stupid, and he led them on a wild goose chase for days. They finally trapped him and tried to get him to tell them where the gold was. He refused to talk. They tortured that poor old man for days, Alex," she whispered, her eyes full of tears. "Kieran cursed them and put a curse on this land and said he would haunt it and bring horror to anyone who trespassed here. Can we leave now, please?" she asked, her tone hopeful.

  "I don't believe in ghosts, Jenny."

  "That's because you haven't heard of all the scary things that have happened out here. Some boys were out here, searching for gold. A storm came up and one of them was blinded. A tree fell on another one, and the third boy swore he saw a swirling gray form and it was pointing at him and said, 'Get off my land!' Another time, some travelers thought to camp here for the night, and a stranger wandered into their camp and made them so uncomfortable that they ran for their lives. There are so many other stories, but I don't want to sit here, Alex. Please, let's go."

  "I think I like this place, Jenny. Let's go for a walk and see the house."

  "Oh no, Alex! You can't be serious! Kieran will be angry with us."

  "If Kieron is hanging around we'll tell him that we mean no harm. Besides, no man could take one look at you and not be pleased to have you nearby."

  "I'm not that special, Alex. You are the only man who has ever told me that... or told me that I am pretty. I think you are full of blarney," she announced, her cheeks a pretty pink.

  "I think there is something wrong with the men in this town, Jenny. You are beautiful. Now come with me and let's go exploring."

  He was surprised to realize that the pretty redhead was actually trembling. She was truly afraid that a ghost was going to harm them. He wanted to tease her, but knew that this wasn't the time. However, he wasn't going to allow her fear to keep them from exploring the O'Malley place. The stories of a ghost would aid rustlers in hiding cattle. It wouldn't take long for him to discover whether or not anyone had been using the ranch, and if he had Jenny with him on a picnic he didn't think the rustlers would get suspicious that he was on to them. The more he thought about it, the more Alex was positive that the O'Malley ranch was involved. It had been for sale for back taxes for years, but no one would buy it because of the ghost.

  "Don't worry, honey. I promise to keep you safe. You have such a good heart that even an angry ghost would know in a second that you aren't here to harm anything."

  "I hope you're right," she said, her pretty eyes trying to see everywhere at once. She didn't try to move her hand out of Alex's. His solid strength made her feel safe, and she instinctively knew that he would protect her from anyone and anything. When she heard a noise that frightened her, she gasped and moved even closer to Alex to bury her face in his shirt. "I'm sorry to be such a big baby," she whispered.

  "It's alright, honey," Alex soothed her by rubbing her back and speaking softly. "I don't think you are a baby." She finally stopped shaking and looked up at him. Alex smiled at her and they moved forward until they were able to see the house in the distance. "It's a large house."

  "I've never seen it before," Jenny admitted, then said, "I wonder why a single man would build such a large house?"

  "Maybe he thought he would marry someday."

  "I'll bet you're right. He wasn't all that old when he settled out here." The house needed paint, of course, but from a distance it didn't look all that rundown. "Are we going to go and have a look?" she wanted to know.

  "Would you like to?" he asked, smiling.

  "I'm curious, and we have come this far. I know I'll probably never get another chance to take a look inside, so yes, I would like to." Jenny's green eyes were sparkling and Alex knew she was enjoying the adventure.

  He smiled at her and said, "By all means, let's check this out. I'm curious, too," he admitted. He could see that at one time the ranch, although small, was well cared for. The house and the out buildings wouldn't still be standing and in such good shape without the
loving attention they'd received years ago. He had to admit it was kind of strange, though. "How long ago did Mr. O'Malley die?"

  "Oh, I was a little girl when it happened, and I still recall overhearing Papa whispering to Mama about it, and Mama crying and saying it was awful those men could do such a horrible thing. The Sheriff caught them and they hung. It was at least eight years ago," Jenny told him.

  "The place is in really good shape for being empty so long. I can't believe someone hasn't bought it yet."

  "It's haunted and people are afraid to be out here... especially at night," she added.

  "Would you like to look inside the house?" Alex asked as they stood in front of the large front porch that spanned the entire front of the house.

  "I don't know," she said, hesitating. "I would like to, but I'm not very brave."

  "I will keep you safe," he promised, then tugged on her hand to pull her up the wide steps and on the porch.

  "We could just peek in the windows," Jenny suggested. She knew that Alex was enjoying the situation, but she didn't care. Peeking in the O'Malley house was something she'd always longed to do. She just hoped the ghost of Kieran didn't get angry and do something awful to her and Alex.

  "Go ahead," Alex suggested. He loved the way she held onto his hand and pulled him with her to peek in the window.

  "They are too dirty to see inside," she complained, her lower lip in a pout that he found adorable.

  Alex picked her up and carried her inside the house and then put her down in the foyer. He was positive he would have had to argue with her for an hour to get her inside and he was too impatient for that.

  "Oh my!" Jennifer looked at Alex in concern. "Oh my! We shouldn't be inside, Alex!" she whispered.

  "Don't worry. If Mr. O'Malley was going to take issue with us he would have let us know by now. Like I said, he knows we aren't here to hurt anything. I think this house is very nice."

  "It is," Jenny agreed. Now that she was inside, she was willing to look around. The rooms still had some furniture inside, but it was all covered with dust and grime and it would take a lot of cleaning to put the once beautiful home to rights. They ended up in the kitchen and Alex noticed at once that the chairs had recently been sat upon; they were dust free. The table was also wiped clean.