Broken in Love (Studs in Stetsons Book 2)

by Megan Hetherington

  “I’m gonna take a shower and then go to town to see the sheriff.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  I smile. “I’d like that. Although I don’t think it’s right that you are in there with me, but I would like a ride.”

  “Okay.” He nods, probably believing he can convince me otherwise on the way.

  * * *

  It feels like I’m an onlooker as we pass through Main Street. Everyone going about their normal business unaware there is a killer amongst their midst. Me. Sat unrestrained in Carson’s police car. When we park outside the municipal offices, I take a moment to study the face of my man as his eyes bleed with anguish.

  “Are you sure about this?”

  I smile. “Yes, Carson.” I take a fortifying breath. “Absolutely sure. I have to let God and the universe decide my fate on this one.” I lean across and place a sweaty palm on his. “Right now everything feels as if it is with me instead of against me.”

  He furrows his brow, either because he doesn’t agree or doesn’t understand what I mean. It’s hard to describe but I’m certain the stars are aligned and signpost a way through this mess. I’d be a fool to ignore that.

  Sheriff James spends the ten minutes in my company with his mouth open. It’s fortunate he has his window shut otherwise he would have choked on a fly by now. Eventually he closes his mouth to speak. “In all my years in law enforcement, I’ve never had someone admit to killin’ a person like this. We didn’t even know the guy who attacked you was dead.” He arrows me with a hard stare, pulling on his experience to help guide him in what to do next. “I need a statement.”

  I nod.

  “Here. Write down what you just said.” He turns a piece of paper over to me. “I need to make a call to the county judge.”

  “Okay.” I study the unofficial scrap of paper and reach across the desk for a pen.

  I scrawl across the paper everything I remember about that night and carefully add in about my father being the man who attacked me and how I took my gun from my purse and shot him. The concussion leaving me unsure whether that is what had happened and the reason for me not raising it before now. I miss out the part about Austin and Blue, that has nothing to do with me.

  Moments later, the sheriff strides into the office and rests against the table next to me. “This is unusual Lemon.”

  I nod.

  “We can’t ignore what you told us, and need to follow up on certain things. Do you have anyone that can vouch that you won’t leave town?”

  I glance out of the window at Carson, who is leant against the hood of his car.

  The sheriff follows my stare. “Okay.”

  As much as I’m able to, I breathe regular. Thankful that I don’t have to spend time in the cell here. That was one aspect I didn’t think through on my way over here and it frightened the living daylight out of me when I walked through the entranceway of the municipal offices and saw the sign for the jail.

  “We’ll get in touch very soon.”

  The sheriff walks with me to the door and Carson bounds up the stairs to meet us. I leave the two of them for a moment to catch up while I take in a grateful inhale of fresh, free air. Carson makes his case to the sheriff with urgency and passion which is unusual for him and especially when I am so calm. He leaves the sheriff stood with a worrying expression at the foot of the stairs.

  “You did the right thing, baby girl,” Carson reassures me, opening the passenger door for me to slump into the seat.

  I’m so relieved that I’ve done this and thankful I don’t feel any residual guilt for not adding the part about Blue and Austin. The sheriff hasn’t asked if I know what became of my father, probably because they’re certain I didn’t move from where I was attacked until the ambulance arrived. So as long as they don’t ask, then I don’t have to lie. What Blue and Austin choose to do is up to them and Carson hasn’t tried to convince me otherwise.

  Back at the cabin, Carson paces the deck while I pretend I’m taking everything in my stride by organizing my study papers for the next exam due next week. Honestly, I don’t know where I’ll be when that exam comes around. I could be practicing cuticle repair on fellow inmates inside the women’s state prison.

  Repeatedly I look up from the papers while Carson works through whatever demons are clawing at his mind until eventually I can take no more.

  “Carson, what’s up?”

  He shakes his head and blows out a stressed breath.

  “Honey, you know it’s better to talk. Open up ‘bout shit.”

  He nods. “Yeah, but I’m no good at this stuff.”

  I smile a laugh. “You’re sure better than me.” I slink my arms around his neck.

  He wraps his hands around my forearms and snuggles his face into my hair, taking a deep breath, like it’s the last time he will get the chance. “I love you, Lemon Sherbet and this crap scares the hell outta me. The thought of you being incarcerated is too much.”

  My stomach knots. “I know, honey. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  His grip on my forearms tightens and he pulls my arms down from his neck. I lean back to study his expression. The vein in his neck pulses wildly.

  “Lemon.”

  I grit my teeth and wrinkle my brow as a shiver of nervousness skates across my chest.

  “Lemon. Will you marry me?”

  “Huh?”

  “I can’t let you go through this alone. I want to be with you in all of this. Every last step I want to take with you as your husband.”

  For what seems like too long, I can’t speak. A myriad of wild thoughts dart around. Is this him pitying me?

  “Are you sure?”

  “Damn sure. There’s no way back from this. You are my life, my reason for being. I can’t let you go through this alone and I want to prove to you in whatever way I can that I will be there for you. Through everything. And anything.”

  I gasp. His words are said with conviction.

  “Even if this hadn’t have happened I would still feel the same way, only I can’t wait. This situation has created an urgency and I can’t lose you again. Please, Lemon, will you be my wife?”

  My heart beats loudly and for too long I can’t seem to say what I feel, my words caught up in the huge landslide of emotion that overcomes me.

  This man, the most supportive person who has ever come into my life, wants me to be his wife. It’s the most awesome feeling I’ve ever had. To be wanted by someone without fighting for it. Just being me is enough for Carson.

  I swallow deep and take a control of my emotions with a shaky exhale.

  “Yes.” I throw my arms around him and we hug each other until it’s impossible to tell where I finish and he ends.

  Twenty Eight

  Carson

  2021 - A new beginning

  No one could be happier than me right now. That’s what I would like to be able to tell everyone. But I’d be wrong. So wrong. Because Lemon is definitely happier than me. Or at least on the outside anyway. Inside I’d fight her for that accolade. The only difference is she can show her emotions. I’m still reserved when it comes to that.

  We’re at the altar at the Gunner Ridge chapel, surrounded by all our friends and family. Even Blue and Josie. Not Austin though, he doesn’t do ‘socials’. But that’s fine, I’m not sure Lemon could cope with him looking at her the way he does. Blue says he can live with whatever fate is tossed his way. Austin I’m not too sure.

  I’ve left the police force, I couldn’t live with the truth I have to keep locked up inside about everything that happened that night. But that’s okay. I made a choice and I chose Lemon. And boy was it the right decision to make.

  She’s six months pregnant now and the bump is a healthy baby. Lemon knows the sex of the baby and is supposed to be keeping it a secret from me, but I’m guessing it’s a boy, based on the stuff she’s bought recently. Little dungarees. A blue comforter. He did put us through the wringer for a while and Lemon had to lay up fo
r most of the second trimester.

  She was remarkably calm throughout. Saying, what will be will be. And that’s where Lemon comes into her own. The strength she shows is unequivocal. I admire her strength. A lot of folk around here, including me, thought she was stupid hanging out for Blue all those years, but she isn’t stupid, she simply had strength to carry on through all the bad times and the heartache. To fight for what she thought the union of two people meant. A love everlasting. All enduring. But she doesn’t have to fight for that with us. We’re both willing and keen partners in this relationship.

  I don’t mind the references to Blue now, not that there’re many. Lemon is with me because she wants to be and that’s more than enough. I respect that she can’t wipe out her past and so she shouldn’t. What Blue did that night of her attack showed to me that he cares about her, and what went on between them previous to that was because his heart was simply meant for someone else.

  In the end, I declined the opportunity to run for sheriff and instead helped Sheriff James restructure the organization of the county law enforcement. It’s always been politically trying having a sheriff’s department operating out of the same town as a police department. The Mayor will save some money and the locals don’t seem too concerned after I convinced them the position simply wasn’t for me. Ledowski will slide into being a deputy no problem.

  “Where’s Amber?” I ask Blue, who is stood with Lemon and Josie outside the chapel. The photographer has had us in all kinds of group formations and the girls slide off for the all-female shot.

  “Vegas.” He shakes his head slowly. “Her twenty-first. She had a trip planned for a while.”

  “Sometimes you’ve got to let stuff go.”

  He looks at me, with a questioning gaze for a few seconds, then nods. “Looks like you’re gonna do everything I couldn’t with Lemon.”

  “Sure am.”

  “Thank you.”

  I smile at his line. He’s not being facetious or condescending. His gratitude is for everything that has happened. His mistakes. His actions. And her strength through it all.

  In the end the County Judge had a private hearing. Despite a thorough investigation Lemon’s father disappeared from any record well over a decade ago and no one had reported a male of his age missing. The psychologist the court appointed was not convinced Lemon truly remembered what she admitted to and a neurologist reported that her head trauma was likely to cause black spots in her memory for years to come. And as much as she was open, everyone consulted decided there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue a prosecution. You can imagine our relief.

  As a follow up Lemon has been in therapy. Not only for that night but more for what happened in her childhood and, like everything that is thrown at Lemon recently, she takes it in her stride.

  After the wedding I’m gonna get started on building a structure in a different part of the woods. It’s a spa retreat we have planned. Lemon’s nearly qualified as a beautician and she’s worked out the figures and it will be a good business. I fully intend to share the care of our child, giving Lemon the space and freedom she needs to continue on her journey of growth and self-fulfillment. After that, who knows? I have a mind to do some wood crafting or similar. It’s strange how my requirement to be a police officer has fizzled away and my ambition of reaching milestones earlier than my father evaporated.

  I catch hold of Lemon and hug her into me, squeezing as much as I’m able to with our son wriggling in between us.

  “I love you, Mrs Perrins.”

  “And I love you too.” She leans in to me and whispers in my ear. “Stud.”

  Subscribe to my newsletter, for details on the next instalment of the Studs in Stetsons series, Lessons in Love, featuring Amber Corrigan and Austin Barclay out later this year.

  Also by Megan Hetherington

  Studs in Stetsons:

  Forged in Love Novella (Blue)

  Notes in Love (Colt)

  Broken in Love (Lemon)

  Lesson in Love (Amber) (October 2020)

  Holidays in Love (Abe) (December 2020)

  Wilder Bros Romance:

  Pump It Up

  Tee It Up

  Ramp It Up

  Paint It Up

  Standalones:

  Into The Light

  Bad Ink

  Novellas:

  Love on an Island

  Angel Duet:

  Falling for his Angel

  Loving his Angel