High Desert Haven (The Shepherd's Heart) (26 page)

“Why?” Ice traced the edges of her tone.

“You haven’t had any more threats recently. Someone thinks they’ve won; that you won’t be able to come up with the money. Maybe they plan to buy the ranch from the bank or maybe the bank’s in on this deal. But when you pay off that loan, they’ll have to rethink. Who else knew about the bank calling the loan, besides me, Ron, Conner, Tilly, and William?”

Nicki’s eyes narrowed as she tumbled to his logic. “No one.” The words were clipped.

He raised his eyebrows to emphasize his point. “Have you told him about the horses yet?”

She smoothed a hand across the front of her skirt, refusing to meet his eyes. “No.”

The corner of his mouth quirked. Maybe she had taken more stock of his words than he thought. “Don’t. He wants your land, Nick. He wants it bad, and he’ll do anything to get it. Sell the horses, pay off the loan, and don’t tell anyone until it’s done.”

“Word travels fast. I wouldn’t be able to sell them without everyone in the county knowing about it.”

“I’ve sent for my cousin, Rocky, and a friend, Cade. Trust them. They’ll know what to do. Cade’s father owns a ranch, and he’s going to want every one of those horses that you’re willing to part with. They can arrange it so the money goes directly to the bank without even passing through your hands.
No one
has to know you’ve sold them.”

Instead of the anger that he expected, her shoulders slumped. “Why don’t you trust him?”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ve known him for three years, and you for a little more than a week, but you want me to take your word over his?”

His face softened. He raised his fingers, meaning to capture her hand in his own, but she pulled away slightly. Her hand paused midair and started to come back to his before she changed her mind and dropped it to her side. She turned toward the door, not waiting for him to reply.

Jason’s heart plunged as she walked away. He wished she would trust him a little more. And yes, he hoped she would take his word over William’s. He could only pray that God would help her make the right decision.

Ron came back in. Clearing his throat, he turned to look at Nicki, where she waited by the door. “Ma’am, I’ll just be a minute if you want to wait for me to walk you down to church.”

“No.” Nicki shook her head as she fiddled with the strings on the reticule that hung from her wrist. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be late if I wait for you men to quit gabbing. I’ll see you there.” Her dark eyes darted to Jason. “I’ll think about it,” she said, then hurried out the door.

Ron turned back to Jason. “We found the horses right where you said.” Jason sighed in relief. “How many?”

“Two hundred and nine.”

Jason let out a low whistle.

Ron continued. “I left Conner guardin’ ’em. I don’t think we’d be able to drive ’em back to the ranch just the two of us. ’Sides, the corral wouldn’t hold ’em all.”

“Good. Any news on who started that fire?”

Ron grimaced in sympathy, shaking his head. “Nary a trace.”

Jason squelched the curses that came to mind.
Forgive me, Lord
. He banged his hand against the bars with a fierceness that made them vibrate in their sockets.

“Good news is, I was just talkin’ to the sheriff, and he’s inclined to think you didn’t do it, despite the evidence to the contrary. Watts is a good man. He smells the barn afore he gets there if you catch my meanin’. Nicki, on the other hand...”

Jason frowned, waiting.

“Well, Harpster’s been around every spare moment since you were arrested. Tryin’ to prove he’s the man o’ the hour—a little too hard if you ask my opinion. He’s been fillin’ her head with all the reasons you can’t be trusted. I don’t cotton to that man. Never did.”

“I don’t either, and with things turning out the way they are, we’re going to need some help. You know of any trustworthy men we could hire? I think whoever wants Nicki off that land thought calling in this loan would do the trick. Now that she’s going to be able to pay if off, I’m afraid we might have trouble again.”

Ron lifted his hat and raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good. Rocky and Cade should be here within the next couple of days. I’ll feel better when they get here. In between time, see if you can’t get someone out there with you two.”

Ron nodded and turned for the door.

“And Ron? Maybe you could talk to Nicki about William? I tried. Maybe if it comes from you, too, she’ll listen. He really has the wool pulled over her eyes.”

“I’ll talk to her. But she’s pretty convinced that he isn’t involved.” Jason dropped his chin to his chest and shook his head.

“If it makes any difference, she doesn’t think you did it, either.”

Jason looked up, hope surging through him. “Really?”

“Sure. She’s claimin’ she don’t know what to believe, but I can tell she knows you didn’t do it, in here.” He thumbed his chest.

Jason exhaled. He’d been hoping for more evidence than that. “Keep an eye on her, Ron.” A thought occurred to him. “How are the Jeffries holding up?”

Ron shrugged. “Good as can be expected, I guess. They’re staying in the house, and we have an area in the bunkhouse blanketed off for Nicki to sleep in. Sawyer’s still staying with Tilly for now.”

“Give her my blankets. They’re warm, and it gets cold in that bunkhouse at night.”

“She’s using them. She didn’t have anything else to use. She insisted on leaving all the blankets in the house for the family to have.” Ron put on his hat. “Well, I’ll let you get to breakfast. We’ll be back tomorrow. And don’t worry, son, we ain’t gonna let you hang.”

Jason picked up the basket of food Nicki had handed him earlier and moved to sit on the cot, hoping that Ron would be able to keep his promise.

The church members crowded into the pews, the lamps overhead casting a warm glow throughout the room. Nicki eased into the third row back and sank down with a soft sigh. It felt good to be here in God’s house after the stress of the last few weeks.

“Mommy!”

Nicki twisted toward the sound just in time to catch Sawyer as he launched himself into her arms.

Tilly smiled as she scooted onto the bench after him. “‘Morning. How are the Jeffries?”

Nicki reached to squeeze her friend’s hand. “They’re not coming this morning. Brenda couldn’t face church yet without May. She so loved being here.”

Sawyer snuggled under her chin and stuck a chubby thumb in his mouth.

Tilly pressed her lips together as she methodically pulled off her gloves, one finger at a time. She glanced up and Nicki saw tears pooled in her large brown eyes. “I still can’t believe that little May is gone.”

Nicki blinked back her own tears and rested her chin on Sawyer’s head after a quick nod of agreement. So much death and sadness. Was God really somewhere in all of this?

Pastor Saunders stepped up behind the pulpit as Conner and Ron slid onto the bench beside Tilly. “Stand with me as we open in prayer, would you?”

The congregation stood and Nicki took the opportunity to settle Sawyer more securely in her arms.

After prayer and some congregational singing, Pastor stepped forward to stand behind the pulpit once more. He set his Bible on the surface, opening it and flipping some pages without looking up. His voice rang out sure and strong.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Nicki’s heart lurched at the text he’d chosen.

He looked out over the congregation, his face serious. “Those words are found in the twenty-third psalm, verse four.” Pastor Saunders paced several steps to one side of the pulpit and surveyed the congregation. “Do you believe them?”

Nicki squirmed uneasily in her seat. Where had God’s comfort been for her and the Jeffries these past weeks? She’d thought Jason was God’s answer, sent to help her, but now he was in jail.

Pastor cupped his chin and paced to the other side of the podium. “Make no mistake. We have evil walking our hills these days.” He held out a hand in Conner’s direction. “When a man can’t even ride out after dark without being assaulted, we have evil walking in our hills!”

Conner looked down and fidgeted with his hat where it rested on his knee.

“So what are we to do?” Pastor asked. “Let’s think for a minute about what fear makes people do. Fear usually causes one of two reactions. We either run and hide and pretend that what is happening isn’t really there. Or we get angry and fight back to get rid of the object causing the fear. Both of those reactions are us trying to take matters into our own hands.” He paused behind the pulpit just long enough to fiddle with a paper that marked his place in his Bible and then paced to the very corner of the platform. “I was in town the other day.” He cleared his throat. “It was a couple weeks back, and God had laid this sermon on my heart already. I was thinking about fear and what it causes us to do. I walked into the mercantile and,” he blinked hard and cleared his throat again, “I bumped into the Jeffries.”

A collective murmur rippled through the congregation.

Pastor blinked back tears. “I stopped little May and I asked her, ‘May, you ever been afraid?’ She nodded. And I said, ‘What do you do when you are afraid, May?’”

Nicki swallowed hard and pressed her eyes shut to prevent the tears from falling. But in the silence that followed, she finally opened her eyes. Pastor was trying to regain his composure, but at last he gave up and let the tears fall. He pulled a hanky from his back pocket and wiped his eyes. “You know what she said to me? She said, ‘When I’m afraid, I run to my daddy.’”

In the back of the room someone blew their nose, and off to her left, Nicki heard several people sniffling.

“Now that is the right response, my loved ones. Times are hard, right now. Evil presses in on some of you. Will you run to your Daddy?” He pointed at the ceiling. “He might not take the evil away, but His Word says He will comfort you.” He paced back the other way. “One of the ways God comforts us is by putting other people into our lives.”

Nicki’s mind immediately went to Jason, and her pulse quickened.

“My granddaddy used to say, ‘Sometimes people just need to see Jesus with skin on.’”

The congregation chuckled.

Pastor looked right at Nicki, and she felt herself squirm. Jason had been wonderful to her, and she had been awful to him when he was being hauled off to jail.

Pastor’s next words made her even more uncomfortable. “We have one lady in our congregation who has seen some particularly trying times this past couple weeks.”

All eyes turned to see who the pastor was looking at, and Nicki buried her face in Sawyer’s hair. Why was he pointing her out? Others had had trouble, too.

“Well this past week the board members and I had a meeting, and we’ve decided to be Jesus with skin to that lady.” Nicki lifted her head.

Pastor smiled at her. “Mrs. Trent. We would like to help you put a new roof on your barn. We’ve talked it through as a board, and it looks like the first weekend in April would be a good time for all of us to come help you. Would that work for you?”

Nicki blinked and looked over at Tilly, Conner, and Ron. Tilly smiled nodding her encouragement.

Nicki looked back at Pastor. Her mouth opened and closed. Opened. Closed. Finally she blurted, “I…I…I don’t know what to say. That would be wonderful. But—”

Pastor raised one hand to still her protest. “Jesus with skin, Mrs. Trent, just as you are being to the Jeffries by allowing them to live with you during this difficult time in their lives.”

Nicki pressed her lips together. She didn’t want thanks for that; it was only what any decent person would do.

Pastor Saunders clapped his hands together. “Good. It’s settled then. Let’s close in prayer, shall we?”

As the congregation shuffled to the door, saying their good-byes to one another, Nicki had only one thought. She hoped she still had a ranch come the first weekend of April, or there would be no barn to put a roof on.

15

William leaned his forearms across the top rail of his corral and glanced at Slim. The tall lanky man, leaning in a similar fashion beside him, blew a smoke ring and turned to face his boss.

William’s mouth thinned. “I need you to have a chat with Sheriff Watts.

Give me two days and then tell him something believable to let him know that Jason was otherwise occupied when that fire started. He’s already told the sheriff that he was with someone who looked like you. Confirm it, without making it look like you were following him. I still want him under suspicion, but I need him out of that jail.”

Slim’s gaze was expressionless as he blew another smoke ring, but he appraised William carefully.

William chuckled without humor. “I know it doesn’t seem like the smart thing to do right now, but trust me, he’s gonna wish he never set foot outside of that jail when I’m done with him.” He started away, then paused. “And Slim?”

Slim looked at him.

“Fail this time, and your broken nose will feel like a feather pillow compared to what will happen.”

Slim tossed his cigarette down and ground it out with the toe of his boot. William nodded in satisfaction.
Soon Nicki will be all mine
. The thought brought a smile to his face. Yes, indeed, things were going well.