Shotgun Groom (15 page)

argue with her. Rick pul ed the sleigh up to the front with

Greg and Sep. Sep jumped out and waved good-bye as he

bounded up the porch steps. Sal y said good-bye and

headed toward the sleigh.

“I thought she’d never leave,” Joel muttered as he shut the

door. “The only thing she knows how to do is talk.

Christmas is going to be a long day.”

April rather liked that Sal y could talk as much as she did. It

meant April didn’t have to think up something to say, but

she decided not to voice her opinion. Joel offered to take

Nora to the parlor so April could clean up the kitchen.

Nodding, she handed Nora to him and went to the other

room. If nothing else, Joel was good with Nora, and for that,

she was thankful.

That night, April ful y expected Joel to insist that she act on

her wifely duty, but he was already asleep by the time she

settled into bed and he didn’t wake her up in the middle of

the night. Tomorrow marked the time of her flow, so she

wouldn’t have to worry about her duty for a week. If he tried

to get her to be with him that way, she’d claim the woman’s

time was upon her, and he’d leave her alone. Relieved, she

went to sleep.

Chapter Twelve

Two days later after another tense breakfast, Joel cleared

his throat so April and Sep knew he was about to speak.

They stopped clearing the table and looked at him.

Taking that as his cue to talk, he said, “I’m going into town

today.” Sep opened his mouth, probably to protest, so Joel

beat him to it. “I’l come back. You don’t need to worry about

that. I need to talk to Doctor Adams. I know Rick said he’d

do it, but I need to talk to him myself, especial y since I don’t

want to lose my job. I wil need to keep working. I can’t stay

in this house al the time, and farming isn’t for me.”

He’d spent his entire childhood avoiding the chores on his

parents’ farm so they would be happy when he chose

another job. He worked too hard to give up al those years

of sloth just to get stuck being a farmer. It wasn’t easy to

perfect the art of laziness. Now, as he studied April and

Sep, he didn’t detect anything in their expressions that

indicated they thought he should pick up farming, and that

was a relief. However, there seemed to be something that

worried them.

“What is it?” he demanded.

April turned to wipe Nora’s hands clean from where she sat

in the highchair but glanced at Sep with an unspoken

question in her eyes.

Joel let out an irritated sigh. “Al this secretive looking back

and forth you al keep doing has got to stop. You dragged

me into this family, and now that I’m a part of it, I expect you

to tel me anything I need to know. I told you I’m coming

back, so what’s the worried look for?”

April straightened up and rubbed her fingers along the wet

cloth in her hands. “You’re right. You deserve to know the

truth.” Ignoring the warning look on her brother’s face, she

continued, “Lou might come around, and if you’re not here,

there’s no tel ing what he’l do.”

Sep relaxed and nodded.

Joel wondered what it was they weren’t tel ing him. “Is Lou

the one who fired a bul et into that wal and the table leg?”

He motioned to the two bul et holes in the room.

“I did one and he did the other,” Sep said before April could

answer. “And that’s al . He went running on out.”

Final y. Now they were getting somewhere. “Mind if I ask

why you two ended up in a shooting match?” Joel asked.

“Because he barged in here like he owned the place,” Sep

quickly answered. “We told him to go and he wouldn’t, so I

had to convince him to go.”

“Which one is your bul et?”

“The one in the table leg.”

“So he was under the table?”

Sep swal owed and shrugged in what Joel thought might be

a nervous manner. “I almost got him.”

“And the one up on the wal is his. Is he a lousy shot?”

“He was drunk.”

That explained the awkward angling of the bul et. “I saw

blood on the railing the other day. Since I don’t see any

wounds on you, I assume it was Lou’s blood?”

“I shot again as he was leaving. I don’t know what I hit.”

Joel nodded. “So, what does he want?”

“We don’t know,” April inserted. “We suspect there’s

something Harvey might have left here.”

Sep seemed relieved by her answer, and though Joel

suspected there was more to the story than they were

wil ing to tel , he decided it wasn’t wise to press them for

more information at the moment. They’d disclosed enough

where he got an idea of why they’d been terrified enough to

want him with them in the house.

“You think Lou might come here while I’m in town?” Joel

softly asked.

“We have no reason to think he won’t,” Sep replied.

“Then there’s only one thing to do,” Joel said as he went to

the highchair and unlocked the tray. “We’l have to go into

town together. That way everyone stays safe.”

He wasn’t sure what to do when the doctor wanted him to

resume his duties. Maybe Sal y would be wil ing to entertain

them while he was working. Since she made it a habit of

sticking her nose into everyone’s business, he might as

wel make it easy for her to find out everything she wanted

to know about April and Sep.

He picked Nora up from the highchair. “I’m sure my sister

wil love seeing this little one.” Oddly enough, it seemed

Sal y had been interested in seeing babies more than usual

for the past year. Whatever Sal y’s reasoning, it didn’t

concern him. Al that mattered was that April and Sep could

be somewhere safe while he worked.

“Alright, we’l go to town,” April replied as she gathered the

plates and put them in the sink.

“I’l get the horses and sleigh ready,” Sep said.

“It’s too soon to do that,” Joel argued. “Why don’t you gather

the blankets we’l need for the trip instead. When April’s

done, I’l get the horses and sleigh ready.”

Sep’s eyebrows furrowed and he opened his mouth to

speak, but April said, “Just do it, Sep.”

Though his jaw clenched, he stormed out of the room and

went up the stairs to obey her. Joel shook his head. The kid

couldn’t let the horses stand out there while everyone got

ready to head out. On a day this cold, it wasn’t right to leave

the animals exposed to the elements that way. Maybe Joel

should have explained al of this to Sep, but Sep should

know that already since he grew up tending to animals. At

least April had the sense to step in and support him. He

didn’t know if Sep would have gone to look for blankets if it

hadn’t been for her input on the matter.

Joel glanced at April and said, “Thanks for backing me up,”

before he carried Nora out of the room.

***

knocked on the front door. “I’m only going to be gone for an

hour,” he said. “But we have to get something established

with my sister so you can come here when I’m working until

I take care of Lou. After I come by to get you, we’re going to

the sheriff and deputy to see if we can get help. If Rick’s

heard about Lou, then I’m sure they wil be interested.”

April couldn’t help but notice that even though Joel directed

his words to her and Sep, he maintained eye contact with

her. Glancing at Sep who shook his head and stared

straight ahead at the door, she said, “Alright.” What else

could she say? It was a good idea.

The front door opened and Sal y gasped, a wide smile

crossing her face. “Why Joel, you look good as a family

man! Come on in. I’m so glad you came.”

April probably shouldn’t have been surprised that Sal y was

ready to be with them after just seeing them the day before.

Sal y, after al , seemed to thrive off of interacting with

people. Stepping into the house, April put Nora down so

she could take off her coat while Sep fol owed her inside

the entryway.

“I need to talk to the doctor,” Joel told Sal y. “I can’t explain

right now, but I’l be back in an hour.”

“There’s no rush,” Sal y said, waving her hand in a manner

that indicated she was happy to see him go. “April, Sep,

Nora, and I have a lot of catching up to do. Plus, Jenny’s

here! Have a good time.” Before Joel could answer, she

shut the door and cal ed out, “Jenny! April and Sep are

here!”

By the time April got Nora’s coat off, a blonde woman

carrying a boy who looked close to Nora’s age came out of

the parlor. She shared Sal y’s good looks and welcomed

them with a smile. “Sal y was just tel ing me Joel got

married. I’m glad to see he’s settling down.”

“Even if it was at gunpoint,” Sal y added with a wink.

Jenny giggled. “I’m sorry, April. I know it’s not funny, but I

wish I could have seen Joel at a shotgun wedding. He was

so determined to never get married.”

“Now, now, Jenny,” Sal y began, “you and I both know he

didn’t mean it. He wanted to court Abby, but she decided to

accept another man’s offer instead. He was so upset, he

vowed to never get his heart broken again.” Looking at

April, she added, “Oh, he never told us what happened. I

heard it from Vivian who heard it from Mil icent who heard it

from Abby’s sister.”

Jenny groaned and rol ed her eyes. “Sal y, that’s ridiculous.

We can’t be sure that many people can keep track of the

real story.”

“I trust Vivian to make sure it real y happened that way.”

“If Vivian never talked to Abby herself, how could she be

sure?”

“Because Vivian has a good sense about people and when

they’re tel ing the truth.”

April grinned in amusement as she slipped off her coat and

hat. Hanging her and Nora’s things on the coat tree, she

realized this wasn’t going to be the kind of visit a boy would

enjoy. “We could probably use more flour, butter, and oil,”

she whispered to Sep while Jenny and Sal y continued to

argue over the validity of the rumor.

Sep breathed a sigh of relief and hurried back out the door.

Sal y and Jenny stopped talking and turned to April. “Did

we scare him off?” Sal y asked.

Laughing, April shook her head and picked Nora up. “No. I

just thought being around a bunch of women would put him

to sleep.”

“You’re probably right,” Jenny replied.

“He’l be back soon.” April motioned to the boy in Jenny’s

arms. “What’s his name and how old is he?”

“His name is Carl, and he’s sixteen months old.”

“She has a six-year-old son named Jeremy. He’s playing in

the backyard with Greg. It’s good exercise for the dog,”

Sal y said.

Jenny smirked. “Because the dog runs away from them.”

Amused, Sal y shrugged and motioned for them to go to the

kitchen. “Ever since Jenny and Owen moved further out of

town, I don’t get to see her as much as I used to, and that

means Greg doesn’t get to play with Jeremy as much as he

used to either.”

“Greg has friends at school, so he manages just fine.” As

they entered the kitchen, Jenny waved to April and pointed

out the window. “There they are.”

April shifted Nora to her other arm and peered out the

window where two boys laughed as they threw the bal for

window where two boys laughed as they threw the bal for

the dog to catch. “The dog seems to be enjoying himself.”

“So he is. Sal y, it looks like they’re playing with the dog

today instead of terrorizing the poor thing.”

“That dog loves any kind of attention, but he loves to play

bal more than anything else.” Sal y went to the cook stove

and picked up the coffee pot. “April, yesterday you let me

sit back and relax. Today, it’s your turn. Pul up a seat and

tel us al about yourself.”

April found a chair and sat down.

Jenny set Carl down and left the kitchen. When she came

back, she placed a box of toys next to the table. “There.

Now the children won’t get bored.”

As Jenny sat across from her, April realized that even if she

wasn’t sure about Joel, she adored his family. She couldn’t

remember a time when she felt more welcome to be at

someone’s house. Shortly after Sal y got the refreshments

ready, Greg and Jeremy came inside with the dog, so April

got to meet Jeremy. She could only imagine how busy

Christmas day would be with the whole Larson family in one

house, but at least she was familiar with Sal y and Jenny so

she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.

During the course of the hour, she felt more and more