Shotgun Groom (8 page)

armed.

So whatever happened in this house, it required Sep to pul

the trigger, and he wounded the man, not fatal y but enough

to make the man run off. Why would Sep need to pul the

trigger? The boy might have been impulsive, but he wasn’t

stupid. Something serious happened.

Joel examined the kitchen, but he had no idea where to

look and the kerosene lamp wasn’t lighting up the room

enough. Disappointed, he turned the knob until the kitchen

was dark. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the

moonlight. He stood stil for the longest time as he debated

what he should do. The easiest solution was to go to town,

report this to the sheriff and be on his merry way. He could

put this whole sordid thing behind him. His brother-in-law

was the deputy, after al , and Joel knew Owen could get to

the bottom of this.

There wasn’t much to figure out. April had mentioned her

dead husband’s brother. The name escaped Joel at the

moment, but she could tel Owen who to look out for. A

person wouldn’t know it to look at him, but Owen was

actual y good at his job. Whoever this man was who’d given

April and Sep grief would be behind bars soon enough.

Unless the man didn’t commit a crime. No one would put

him in jail without proof. Was blood on the railing and the

testimony of a fourteen-year-old boy and a woman enough

to put the man in jail? If the case went to court, then the jury

would have to determine that. And if there wasn’t sufficient

evidence…

Joel rubbed his forehead. He was getting a headache. He

didn’t know enough about the situation. One thing he knew

was that Sep and April were scared. They hadn’t been

scared when they went into Omaha. Whatever scared them

happened between the time Joel saw them in town and

when he got out here. That explained the fresh blood. But

there were a lot of other things it didn’t explain.

With a heavy sigh, Joel’s shoulders drooped. He couldn’t

leave. If something bad happened to them, he’d never

forgive himself for bolting out of here. Taking off his gloves,

coat and boots, he returned them to where they’d been

before and quietly headed back up the stairs.

Everything was stil quiet, so he tiptoed into Sep’s room. He

changed back into the clothes he slept in so no one would

know he almost left. There was no sense in letting them

think he’d marry April. Staying to figure out what was going

on was one thing, but marrying her was another matter

altogether. He was confident that once they got to the

bottom of the situation and got rid of the man who posed a

threat, things could go back to how they’d been before and

he could enjoy his happy life of bachelorhood once again.

***

prone to do wel before dawn each morning. Harvey used to

come home around this time, when he decided to come

home. Even though he’d been dead for almost a year, she

couldn’t sleep from four to five in the morning. She learned

to take the time to sit by the window before she could sleep

for another hour.

She wrapped the blanket tighter around her body to ward

off the chil in the room. The box stove was closer to Nora,

and it was more important her little girl was comfortable on

these long, cold nights. As she tucked the blanket under her

feet, she wondered why Joel didn’t leave. She thought for

sure he was going to when he went out the kitchen door.

So, why didn’t he?

Leaning her head against the back of the chair, she closed

her eyes and slowly exhaled. Her muscles relaxed, and she

was beginning to feel sleepy. It must be close to five. In a

few minutes, she’d return to bed and go back to sleep.

Nora sighed in her sleep and rol ed onto her back. April

looked back out the window, noting the stars twinkling in the

sky. If only things could always be this peaceful in life. She

used to hate this time of the morning, and it’d taken her a

good six months after Harvey died to enjoy it.

And now that she could feel at peace in this house, Lou had

to come into her and Sep’s lives to make them feel as if

they were on pins and needles al over again. The only thing

keeping her from screaming was knowing Joel was in the

house. Just like Harvey, Lou wouldn’t confront another adult

male. A woman and fourteen-year-old boy were no threat to

Lou. She didn’t think Lou had already returned to the

property to check on her and Sep. No, he wouldn’t have

returned to watch on them this soon. He’d wait until the

snow melted enough to make it an easy trek out to their

house.

Shivering, she stood up and went back to bed, burying

herself under the other blanket. What did Lou want with her

and Sep? They had nothing to offer him, and Lou knew his

way around a whorehouse. There had to be something else

drawing him to the property. Perhaps he wanted to own the

land? That’s what Harvey wanted before he realized

running a farm was too much work.

She turned over in the bed and pul ed the blanket over her

head. Just when she and Sep were getting on with their

lives in peace, Lou had to come in and disrupt everything.

And while Joel might be wil ing to stay for a short time, she

didn’t think he would marry her without being forced to. Sep

was right. They couldn’t let Joel leave. Did she have a

choice but to fol ow through and make him marry her? Even

if he hated her and Sep for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t

do anything to hurt them, and he’d be good to Nora. She

had to get him to marry her, and she had to do it before he

decided to leave. So the sooner she could make it happen,

the better. Maybe today. Maybe today she could get Sep to

make Joel marry her. Closing her eyes, she went back to

sleep.

Chapter Seven

During breakfast, Joel watched April and Sep. Neither one

talked much, and if they did, it was brief. Joel suspected

their hesitation stemmed from the fact that he was there. He

noticed the rifle was resting in the corner of the room, a

silent warning that Joel better stay at their house or else

Sep would be holding him at gunpoint again. Joel didn’t

know whether to rol his eyes or laugh. If they had any idea

how far he’d gotten earlier that morning, they wouldn’t feel

so secure in their ability to keep him here.

As Joel finished his bowl of oatmeal, Nora threw her spoon

on the floor. April’s chair scraped across the floor as she

got ready to stand, but he held his hand up to stop her. “I

got it.” The spoon landed by his foot, and by the

mischievous glint in Nora’s eyes, Joel knew the little imp

threw that spoon by him on purpose. “Too bad your aim is

off,” he told her as he bent down to retrieve it.

While he grabbed it, his gaze fel to the bul et hole in the

table leg. His eyebrows furrowed, he brushed the hole with

his finger. If he was right, then the size of the bul et

indicated Sep had fired that shot. He knew something

happened in the kitchen! After a careful sweep of the other

legs and not finding anything unusual, he straightened in his

seat and set the spoon in the center of the table.

Nora cried and reached for it, but April gave her a clean

one. Nora threw the clean spoon to the floor and tried to get

the dirty one. April put her spoon down and sighed. “You’re

done.”

As April took a protesting Nora from her highchair, Joel

took the diversion to examine the wal to his left. If he was

right, the person Sep shot at would have shot at Sep, and

Sep would have been standing close to the doorway

leading to the hal . It took Joel a few seconds to find the

bul et lodged into the wal , close to the ceiling. The man who

tried to shoot Sep was either a lousy aim or was distracted.

Joel glanced at April and wondered if she was that

distraction.

He took another look at her and wondered why she was so

thin. Studying Nora and Sep, he guessed that they got most

of the food in the house. If he judged their finances based

on the condition of the house, he figured this family wasn’t

doing as wel as she told him they were when they were in

town.

Joel rubbed his eyes. It wasn’t his problem. Al he was

going to do was figure out how to get the man threatening

them behind bars or to leave them alone. Then he was out

of here.

Sep eyed him up and down with what Joel assumed was

supposed to be an intimidating manner. “You’re not going

anywhere.”

Not sure if he should laugh or rol his eyes, Joel said, “Oh

good. I always wanted to spend al day in the kitchen where

I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want.”

“You needn’t be sarcastic,” Sep muttered.

April cleaned up Nora with a wet cloth and soap by the sink

and glanced at Joel. “Why don’t you go into the parlor and

rest?”

“I’m not the type of person who wants to spend al of my

time reading,” Joel replied as he stood up. “I’d rather fix

something.” Sep and April stared at him as if he was crazy,

so he added, “Is there something wrong with that?”

After a moment, April shrugged. “Wel , no, but I didn’t think

you’d want to fix anything in this house.”

“I’m not doing it because I’m going to marry you. I think we

al should be clear on that point. The only reason I’m not

heading out is because I’m giving the sun a little time to

melt some snow. When the snow melts enough, I’l be out of

here.”

Sep shook his head and pointed to the gun.

Ignoring him, Joel continued, “I’m going to start on that

window in the parlor. You got a draft coming in through a

crack that needs to be sealed. Then I’m going to make sure

that railing along the staircase isn’t wobbly anymore so

when Nora starts walking down the steps by herself, the

railing won’t come loose. I’l do more after lunch. I assume

you have supplies somewhere in this house or in the barn

to do that kind of work around here.”

Another long moment passed with Sep and April staring at

him, their eyes wide and jaws lowered. Nora fussed,

bringing April’s attention back to wiping her mouth and

chin.

Sep stood up and grabbed the gun. “Alright. I’l get the stuff

you need. It’s out in the barn. You stay in the parlor.”

“Fine,” Joel consented. “Just as long as you don’t take too

long. I don’t want to die of boredom.”

With a glance at April who shrugged, Sep headed for the

kitchen door and took his coat off the hook. “I’l be back as

soon as I check on the animals.”

Joel nodded and held his hand out to Nora and told April,

“I’l take her to the parlor so you can clean up in here.”

April placed the wet cloth on the table and led Nora over to

him. She stood in front of Joel for a few seconds, her lips

slightly parted as if she was about to say something. Joel

waited, his hand wrapped around Nora’s. April’s eyebrows

furrowed and she looked to the upper right corner of the

room in an action that told him she ran through some things

she might say to him. He couldn’t help but think it was cute

that she did that, but as soon as the thought came to him,

she sighed and shook her head. “Never mind,” she softly

said and turned back to the table.

And just like that, the moment was lost. Joel wasn’t sure

what the moment was about, real y, except that he didn’t

want a repeat of it. It made him feel somewhat queasy but

excited at the same time, and he didn’t care for the

uncertainty of what
that
meant. He picked up Nora and

hurried out of the kitchen.

***

in her crib. Even though the house was silent for the

moment, she could stil hear Joel pounding nails into the

staircase railing to make it sturdy. He finished before it was

time to eat and then decided to work in the barn since he

didn’t want to disturb Nora while she slept. Sep went out

with him, mindful to take the shotgun. But she knew Sep

didn’t need it.

When she finished col ecting the dirt off the floor, she went

out to the porch by the kitchen and dumped it on the

ground. Her gaze traveled the length to the barn. There

were some areas where she could see grass due to the

wind that blew the snow up into drifts.