Authors: Cynthia Woolf
“What? Where?”
“By the stable. I dropped my pie.”
“Never mind about the pie. What did he look like?”
“He has a black hat, shirt and vest. He’s wearing a bright red bandana around his neck.”
“Sarah, you and Bertha stay here with the kids. I’m going to get the sheriff.”
“Be careful,” said Sarah.
“I will.” He gave her a quick peck on the lips and was off.
John, the sheriff and half a dozen men went down to the stable. The man Katy described was easy to spot. He seemed to be in charge of the other men.
The sheriff went up to the man. “Hello, Curly. I haven’t seen you around these parts for a while.”
“Sheriff. Been traveling.”
“Enough small talk. You need to come with me. Now.”
“What if I don’t wanna?”
“You got no choice. My men got the drop in your men. They aren’t any help to you now. There’s just you, me and John Atwood whose wife you murdered in that robbery of the Golden City Bank two years ago. He’s not waiting for you to draw your gun, he’s already got his out. I’m the only thing between you and a bullet. So you’re gonna give me that six shooter you got on your hip. Nice and slow.”
Curly looked back at his men who all had their hands up in the air. Then he looked over at John. What he saw there must have convinced him.
“What makes you so sure I’m the man you want?”
“We have a witness.”
“Come on you can’t believe a kid over me.” Curly realized his mistake too late.
“I never said it was a kid. You’re under arrest for the murder of Dorothy Atwood and five other people.”
John helped the sheriff and his men take Curly and his gang to jail then returned to his family at the potluck. As soon he as walked up to them Sarah and the girls all came running.
Sarah ran her hands over him checking for wounds.
“I’m fine. No shots were fired.”
“I’ve never been so scared in my life.” She kissed him. A passionate, bedroom kind of kiss, right of front of everyone.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back. He understood her fear. What had scared him more was that he almost shot Curly before the sheriff arrested him. He’d wanted to, for taking his wife from him, for stealing more than two years of his beautiful daughter’s voice.
Finally, he and Sarah broke apart. The girls ran to them and hugged their parents. Bertha had tears in her eyes.
“Is he going to jail? Will he be punished for killing Dorothy?” asked Sarah.
“Yes, he’s going to jail and will probably hang.”
“Daddy what is hang?” asked Katy.
He squatted down in front of his two girls. “It means that he won’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a good thing,” said MaryAnn. “We don’t want ‘em to hurt nobody else.”
“That’s right,” John said through tight lips. He shouldn’t have to explain this to his little girls. They shouldn’t have to think about people hanging. It was just another part of their childhood this man had stolen.
Sarah slipped her hand around his waist, laid her head on his chest and gave him a hug. As if she knew what he was feeling, she gave him comfort. He put his arm around her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. He understood.
Dorothy could finally rest. Her soul at peace. Her killer caught.
“Let’s go home,” said Sarah.
“You young ladies ready to go home?” asked John.
“Yes, we want to get our puppies settled in their room,” said MaryAnn.
“Their room?”
“Well, we thought since we share my bedroom that the puppies could have MaryAnn’s room. They need some place to play. ‘Course they’ll sleep with us.”
“Of course.” John had already moved a double bed into Katy’s room. She and MaryAnn refused to be parted, even at night. It was a good thing he had. Now the bed would have two puppies in it, too. Eventually, the girls would have to separate if they wanted to sleep with their dogs. If the size of the paws were any indication, these pups would be big dogs.
“You’re not really going to let them sleep with the girls are you?” asked Sarah.
“Why not?”
“Fleas are why not. These dogs are going to have to be scrubbed before they come into my house.”
John shrugged his shoulders. “So we’ll give them a bath when we get home.”
“No
we
won’t. You and the girls will give them a bath. This ought to be hysterical. Bertha and I will watch from the kitchen. As long as we’re going home early, I’m going to do some of my baking for tomorrow.”
John put his hand on her still flat stomach and said, “Don’t you think you should rest this afternoon?”
“Why would I want to do that? I’m having a baby not becoming an invalid.” She caressed his jaw. “But thank you for caring.”
“Of course, I care.” Too much. It was becoming very easy to fall in love with his new wife. He couldn’t. Wouldn’t. It would be unfaithful to Dorothy.
CHAPTER 6
As soon as they got home the girls couldn’t wait to get the puppies up to their room. They scooped up each pup and ran into the house.
“Be careful, don’t run. Don’t take those dogs in the house they need baths. Girls!” Sarah called after them. They ignored her in their haste.
She closed her eyes and shook her head in exasperation. He knew how she felt, but he was still feeling grateful that this episode in his life could finally be put behind him. He had his little girl back.
Sarah went in the house with the three empty pie pans. It hadn’t taken long for her pies to disappear. Now everyone knew what a gem of a cook he’d married. She was so much more than a cook. His conscience said. But there was still a part of him that loved Dorothy and was loyal to her. Dorothy was gone and Sarah was here. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“You have to go get those dogs and bathe them. I’ll start some water. But they need to go outside. Now.”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, I’m on my way.”
The girls came downstairs leading their puppies by the rope the farmer gave them.
“What do you girls have to say to your Mama?” asked John.
“We’re sorry,” they said in unison.
“For…,” prompted John.
“For bringing the puppies in the house after you said not to.”
“And…,” said John.
MaryAnn and Katy hung their heads. “We’ll give them baths before we bring them back in.”
“Thank you, ladies. Now take them outside.”
The girls perked up a little bit and led the puppies outside.
“The water will be hot in a few minutes. I’ll bring it out while you get the tub.”
“Should you be carrying things, with the baby and all?”
“I’m pregnant not disabled. I’m fine. You just get the tub.”
“Okay.”
He got the tub and put it in the middle of the yard. Then he put in a bucket of cold water. Sarah carried out the two buckets of hot water. He put one in the tub and left the other out to rinse them with.
“MaryAnn let’s do your pup first.”
“We don’t want this to get wet.” John took the rope off and handed it to her. She handed it to Katy so she could help wash her puppy.
John picked up the dog and put it in the water. They were still small, only about six weeks old, so he couldn’t get out though he yelped and tried to.
“Daddy, he doesn’t like it. Let him out,” cried MaryAnn.
“Not until he’s clean. You want him to be able to sleep with you don’t you?”
“Yes.” Her little voice was so sad, John almost felt sorry for her.
“Well, he has to have a bath first. Now hand me the soap.”
She handed it to him. He rubbed the soap as best he could over the squirming pup. Luckily he was still small and John could hold him in one hand and soap him with the other.
That didn’t mean he didn’t get wet. The pup struggled and splashed and by the time he was done with both dogs, he was as wet as they were.
He wrapped the clean, wet dog in a towel and handed it to MaryAnn.
“Now take him upstairs to your bedroom and dry him off. Don’t let him down out here he’ll get all muddy and we’ll have to do it all over again.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” she said as she took the puppy in her arms.
Then he did the same thing to the other dog.
“Here you go, Katydid. Your pup is a girl so you might want to think of a girl’s name for her.”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around the puppy before she rushed into the house.
Sarah stood on the porch waiting for him with a towel, a dry shirt and a smile from ear to ear.
“It wasn’t that funny.”
“You weren’t watching. It was much more fun for Bertha and me than it was for you.”
“Dang dogs. Already more trouble than their worth,” he grumbled.
“Aw. You know they’re worth every drop of water you wore just to see the smiles on the girls faces.”
“Hrumpt,” he said as he put on the clean shirt. “We’ll see.”
Later that afternoon there were wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. He went in to see what wonders Sarah was baking. She was just getting a cookie sheet out of the oven. The table was covered in dish towels and cookies were cooling. She had six cookie sheets going. Two with cookies to go into the oven, two on the table cooling and two just coming out of the oven. She set those two on the table. Put the ones with cookies on them in the oven and took the cookies off the two that had been cooling. Then she took those to the counter and cut out more sugar cookies to bake.
“You’ve been busy.”
She turned at the sound of his voice. “Well, hello there. You’ve been in your office all afternoon. I was going to bring you some coffee and cookies. Do you want some?”
“You bet. But I’ll get them.” He poured a cup of coffee and sat at the end of the table with the cooled cookies. “How are you feeling? You’re not wearing yourself out are you?”
“I’m fine. I love to bake. It relaxes me and everyone enjoys my treats so much. It’s very gratifying. I used to think of opening a bakery. But that was just a dream. Now I can make people happy this way.”
“Well, never let it be said that I don’t let a woman do what she loves to do. Especially when I reap the benefits.” He grabbed another cookie and left to go to the barn. Just as he stepped out the kitchen door he noticed a buggy racing up the driveway. He walked out to the front of the house to greet the guest.
The buggy rocked to a stop right in front of John.
“Hello, stranger, going a little fast there. I’ve got children and would appreciate if you wouldn’t run them down in your hurry.”
The man got out of the still rocking conveyance.
“I’m looking for Sarah Johnson. I was told I could find her here.”
“Sarah Atwood lives here.”
“That’s right. She is married now isn’t she? Well, that’s of little consequence to me. Would you get her?”
“Who are you and why should I get my wife?”
“I’m William Grayson, her cousin.”
John looked the man over. Sarah hadn’t said much about her previous life. Maybe he was what she was running from, enough to answer an advertisement for a mail order bride.
“You stay here. I’ll see if she wants to see you.”
John found Sarah still in the kitchen baking cookies.
“Sarah. There’s someone here to see you. He says he’s your cousin, William Grayson.”
“William? What in the world would he be doing here. I can’t imagine him in the west. He’s too…well, he’s just too citified to come here.”
She wiped her hands on a towel and went with John to the front. When she stepped onto the porch and saw him she was genuinely surprised.
“William? What are you doing here?” she said as she walked down the steps to greet him.
“I came to get you and bring you home.” He beat his hat on his pants. Dust flew everywhere.
She stopped at the bottom of the porch stairs. “Have you lost your mind? I am home. This is my home now. Not New York and never with you.” Sarah stayed where she was with John next to her. She didn’t go anywhere near her cousin. She had been running from him.
“Have you told him?” he sneered.
“Told him?”
“Told him about you. About MaryAnn.”
John looked at Sarah. All the blood had drained from her face. She turned to him, “I….”
“So you haven’t told him that you were never married. That MaryAnn is a bastard.”
“William, how could you say that? You’re a cruel and evil man. I’m sorry I’m related to you.”
“There’s no need to be upset. Of course, she told me. We don’t have secrets from each other. We’re married.”
Anger pulsed through him. She should have told him before they married. It should have been his decision to wed her or not. Not that he would have turned her away. Once he’d seen her, he could never turn her away. But she didn’t know that. He guessed that was the point. She was afraid he’d turn her away. She’d never actually said she was married, but she answered to Missus and she wore a wedding ring. What was he supposed to think?