The Redemption of Jake Scully (13 page)

Jewel looked at Rosie’s bruised face. That’s what “love” had gotten her.

Jewel was determined that she’d never let herself be that kind of a fool.

Jewel’s step slowed when the boarding house came into view and she saw the slim, dark-haired man leaning against the wall beside the door. She did not smile when his face brightened at the sight of her and he started toward them.

“Buddy’s been waiting for you, Jewel.”

Jewel nodded. “That’s what it looks like.”

Buddy reached her side and tipped his hat to Rosie as she hurried past with a nod. Then, turning his attention fully toward Jewel, he said, “I’m glad you got back. The boss sent me into town for some supplies, so I figured I’d use the time to see you while old man Parker was filling the order at the mercantile. I was starting to worry you wouldn’t get back before I had to leave. Where’ve you been, darlin’?”

“That’s my business, Buddy.”

Buddy’s smile faltered. “Yeah, I know. I didn’t mean nothing by it.” He hesitated, then said, “But it could be my business, too, if you’d let it be.”

“That would be a mistake.”

“Not for me, it wouldn’t.” Suddenly solemn, Buddy looked directly into her eyes and said, “I don’t mean to blow my own horn, Jewel, honey, but I need to tell you again—I’m honest, loyal and a hard worker, and I’d never look at another woman if you’d say the word. I could make a good life for us.”

“Like I said before, that would be a mistake.”

“Why?”

Jewel forced a hard smile. “You know that old saying, ‘Too much water has passed under that bridge.’ Like I told you, right now I’m just floating with the current, and that’s the way I like it.”

Momentarily silent, Buddy responded, “That isn’t the way it seemed when we was together a few nights ago.”

Jewel’s smile twitched. “That was then. This is now.”

“Is that right?”

“Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?”

“I don’t rightly know, but I don’t intend to quit until I find out.”

“You’re a fool, Buddy Cross.”

“A fool who loves you.”

Love.

Jewel responded coldly, “I’ll be late for work if I waste any more time here.”

“You wouldn’t want that.”

Jewel did not reply.

“I’ll see you tonight. Save the last dance for me. I’ll take you home.”

Jewel turned toward the boarding house door without responding. She looked up at Buddy when he stayed her with a touch on her shoulder.

Despite herself, her throat tightened when Buddy whispered, “I love you, darlin’. I’ll put that ring on your finger yet.”

Jewel shrugged off his touch and walked away without looking back.

The evening was balmy, and Lacey’s hand on his arm felt right as Scully and she walked toward the livery stable after their evening meal.

Scully looked down at Lacey as she maintained her silence. She had been preoccupied throughout their meal. Something was bothering her. She had mentioned she hadn’t stopped off to see Careful that morning and he had suggested they visit the feisty little critter after they finished eating. She had easily agreed, but her still diverted gaze spoke volumes.

Yet Scully was unprepared when Lacey looked up at him unexpectedly and asked, “How long has Rosie Burns been working for you?”

Scully was suddenly wary. He had spent a long, tedious day indulging town gossips and making inquiries that had led him nowhere. There had been nothing but sincere greeting in Janine Parker’s expression when he had entered the mercantile. Their conversation had been open and friendly, and it had taken him no more than a few minutes to decide she wasn’t responsible for the talk that had reached Lacey’s ears. He’d met Jerry Livingston on the street a little later and had just as quickly dismissed him and his friends from his list of possible rumormongers. He had then visited Doc Mayberry and waited a half hour for him to finish with another patient before seeing him. The doc had appeared honestly concerned about his feigned complaint. The doc had prescribed an Epsom salt bath, which Scully had no intention of taking, and he had left the doc’s office certain he’d have to look further for the culprit. He had already cancelled out Reverend Sykes, knowing Lacey wouldn’t have gone back to the church if the reverend had been the one who had tried to poison her mind against him. He intended to talk to his Gold Nugget girls later that evening, but he didn’t really expect any one of them to be guilty of carrying tales.

That left Barret Gould. He had never liked or trusted that man. Neither did he like the two men Barret employed to do odd chores for him. He did not believe that dishonest men could be honestly employed by a man with as questionable a character as Barret Gould’s. He supposed it was for those reasons that he had preferred to eliminate all the possible gossipmongers from his mind before considering him. Unfortunately, his opinion of Barret’s character and choice of employees was not shared by the majority of Weaver’s more respectable citizens.

He had been considering Barret’s possible complicity more closely before picking up Lacey for supper, but all thought was presently struck from his mind by Lacey’s question.

Scully thought back. “How long has Rosie been working for me? About two years, I guess.”

Scully saw the effort Lacey expended to hold back her response before she blurted, “You know her that well, yet you didn’t notice the bruises she’s worked so hard to cover up since she met Riley Martin?”

Scully frowned. “I saw them, all right.”

“And you didn’t try to help her?”

“How would I do that?”

Lacey’s astounding eyes widened with incredulity and her flawless skin flushed. Scully noted absentmindedly that she was somehow even more beautiful in the throes of her sudden anger as she replied hotly, “How? Are you asking me how you could’ve helped her?”

“That’s right. I’m asking how I could’ve helped Rosie when each time she showed up with a split lip or a black eye, she told me and everybody else who asked that she had fallen, or walked into a door, or she had just made the mistake of applying too much makeup that night.”

“But you knew Riley was responsible.”

“Did I? Rosie denied it, and when Riley came to the Gold Nugget a few nights after she showed up with new bruises, they looked even cozier than before.”

“She’s afraid of him!”

“You wouldn’t think so if you saw them together.”

Lacey blushed.

Aware that he had embarrassed her, Scully said more kindly than before, “If I’ve learned nothing else while running the Gold Nugget, Lacey, I’ve learned to let the girls who work there handle their own problems unless it interferes with their work.”

“But Rosie is being physically abused.”

“She chose Riley. I didn’t.”

“She made a mistake.”

“Maybe she did, but it’s her life, and I’m not responsible for it.”

Lacey’s step slowed. Her face paled as she looked up at him solemnly and said, “I suppose you would’ve felt the same way about me, then, if you hadn’t owed my grandfather a debt of gratitude.”

They were beginning to draw the attention of passersby, and Scully urged Lacey forward into the livery stable. Breaking his silence when they finally emerged through the back door at the corral where Careful was confined, he responded quietly, “Don’t compare yourself with Rosie, Lacey. You would never have turned out to be a Gold Nugget girl, whether your grandfather had sent you to me or not.”

Scully noted the shaky breath Lacey took before she said, “I’m not so sure about that.” And she added, “But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Your question…meaning would I have seen to your needs all these years if I hadn’t owed Charlie a debt of gratitude?” Scully stared down into Lacey’s expectant expression. He responded truthfully, “It took only one look when you wandered into my saloon all those years ago, and I knew I could never have turned my back on you, whether you were Charlie’s granddaughter or not.”

“Why, Scully?”

Why, indeed?

Scully responded, “I can’t tell you why. I can only tell you the way it was.”

“Scully…”

Uncomfortable, Scully said gruffly, “I don’t want you getting involved with Rosie’s problems, Lacey. I told you before, and although the reality of it doesn’t seem to have sunk into your mind yet, this is the Wild West and all that goes along with it. That means there are men and women out here who handle their problems with a gun rather than go to any authority—whether it’s personal or business problems they intend to solve.”

“Because people don’t help them.”

“Because they don’t
want
anybody to help them.”

“That’s not true.”

“True or not, Lacey, how the girls at the Gold Nugget handle their lives is none of your business.”

“Why?”

“That should be obvious.”

“It isn’t, to me.”

Scully said flatly, “I don’t want you getting involved with Rosie or any of the other girls at the Nugget.”

“Too late.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lacey turned away without responding.

“Lacey…”

“I don’t want to discuss it anymore.”

“I told you—”

“I said…I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

A welcoming bray turned Lacey toward the corral fence as Careful slid his head through the bars and nudged Lacey’s hand. Lacey frowned as she stroked Careful’s muzzle.

Silence reigned heavily between them before Lacey turned back toward Scully with a shaky smile that tore at his heart and said, “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I made a mistake bringing the whole thing up. Please, let’s not argue anymore, all right?”

“All right.”

It was a long moment before Scully realized that whatever Lacey wanted, whatever she said, would ultimately be all right with him.

It was a wonder to him.

A wonder
why.

Chapter Nine

T
he evening shadows filled Weaver’s main street as Jewel stood in the doorway of the Gold Nugget Saloon. She turned her back on the heat and din within and walked out onto the boardwalk outside as the noise began overwhelming her. She nodded with a smile at the wranglers lounging there, her composure gradually returning.

She had dressed in a scarlet gown that was her favorite that evening because of the way it complemented her brunette coloring. She had used that dress to bolster her morale many times when it was faltering—and she needed it badly this night.

Jewel joked briefly with a smiling wrangler as he pushed his way through the swinging doors. She employed a facade she had perfected over a period of years, a facade that had hidden a multitude of emotions. She glanced at Rosie where her friend stood a few feet down the boardwalk. Rosie was smiling, her expression open as she laughed and conversed with the men on either side of her. That was Rosie’s gift, the ability to keep her fears at bay for short periods of time, but Jewel did not possess that skill.

Jewel slipped her hand into the pocket of her dress that allowed her access to the derringer holstered in her garter. Small and potent, the gun was a reassurance that gave her confidence. She was especially in need of that confidence tonight because she had just learned Riley was back in the area.

Jewel laughed encouragingly at a comment made by the fellow at her elbow, then looked offhandedly down the street. Billy Watts had mentioned seeing Riley outside town a few hours earlier. Billy had remarked that Riley wouldn’t like seeing Rosie enjoying herself with those two friendly customers when he came back to see her.

She had hidden her reaction with an expert smile and a wink, but her heart had begun a nervous thudding. She had sworn to herself the last time Rosie had come home beaten and bruised at Riley’s hands that she would not let it happen again. She had not been able to save Cynthia, but Rosie—as dear and innocent at heart as her baby sister—was not beyond her help.

Jewel took a breath and responded appropriately to the man who walked up beside her. She breathed in the fresh air, grateful for a moment to think after speaking to Billy. She had the feeling she would especially need a clear head tonight.

Three days had passed since she and Rosie had returned from their lesson and found Buddy waiting at her boarding house door.

Three days…

So much had happened since then. Rosie’s and her lessons had continued, and they were both advancing rapidly under Lacey’s patient tutelage. She could already print her name as well as Rosie could, and both Rosie and she were working successfully on the alphabet. Lacey concluded each session by reading a chapter from the Bible at Rosie’s request, and while peering over Lacey’s shoulder, she had already become familiar with a few of the words.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart…He will direct your path.

Rosie had received more comfort from those words than she had, but the passage lingered in her mind. Perhaps it was easier for Rosie to trust in the Lord than it was for her, but she didn’t understand how that was possible with all that Rosie had suffered. The only thing she knew for certain was that she would not allow Rosie to leave the Nugget with Riley that night if there was fear in her eyes.

As for Buddy…

Jewel smiled more broadly to conceal a surge of emotion. Buddy had come to the Nugget that evening three days previously as he had promised. She had been unable to deny her spontaneous joy at seeing him when he walked through the doorway, or the way she had warmed to his touch when he slipped his arm around her. She had saved the last dance for him. She hadn’t been able to help herself.

Jewel swallowed against the lump that choked her throat. Buddy said he loved her, but he was a fool. Only a fool could love a woman who had so little love left in her. Only a fool would believe a woman like her could change her past simply by changing her future.

Only a fool believed in redemption.

As if bidden by her thoughts, Riley rode into view at the end of the street, and Jewel tensed. She watched as he rode gradually closer.

Slight, with curly hair, warm brown eyes and a youthful appearance, Riley looked deceivingly harmless. No one would initially believe he was capable of the cruelty hidden behind that benign exterior. Neither would anyone see through him as quickly as she had.

Experience was an unforgiving teacher.

Jewel noted the moment when Riley spotted Rosie standing between the two friendly wranglers a few feet away. She saw his mouth twitch into a hard smile as he drew his horse up to the hitching rail.

Scully briefly scanned the activity in the saloon as he walked down the stairs from his room. The clamor of merrymaking was increasing as the hours progressed, but he somehow had little patience for it all. He hadn’t finished dinner that evening and he was hungry. He needed to get to the restaurant before it closed for the night.

Scully acknowledged the greetings of Joe Mullens, a graying cowman, as he made his way across the crowded floor toward the swinging doors. He joked briefly with Harve Stone as he passed. He responded with a short comment to Willie Johnson as the wiry fellow looked up with a greeting, and he reacted with a laugh to Ness Green’s quip before emerging out onto the street. His expression changed when he saw Riley Martin dismounting.

One glance, and Scully knew the reason for Riley’s rigid posture. Rosie was standing farther down the walk with two wranglers who were obviously enjoying her conversation. She hadn’t seen him yet, and she was laughing at a comment one of them made.

Scully saw the twist of Riley’s lips as he started toward her.

Scully paused to scrutinize the men standing with Rosie. They were both wranglers from the Diamond R ranch. Both of them were decent men, and Rosie knew enough not to cause trouble when she was working. She’d handle it. She always did.

Turning his back on the scene unfolding, Scully continued on down the street.

Rosie gasped as Riley turned her roughly toward him. His hand still on her shoulder, he said, “You didn’t see me, huh? You wasn’t expecting me, neither, or you wouldn’t be out here with these two fellas.”

“What’s your problem, boy?” The bearded fellow on Rosie’s right eyed Riley more closely, then said, “The lady and me are just having some fine conversation.”

“She doesn’t need your conversation, do you, Rosie?” Riley’s hand tightened on her shoulder as he repeated, “Do you, Rosie?”

Fear choked Rosie’s throat. She needed no one to tell her that Riley was looking for trouble. She had been warned about him causing a ruckus at the Nugget. He knew it, too. He also knew how much she needed her job, and he was counting on it.

Despising him more at that moment than ever before, Rosie smiled at the cowpoke beside her and said, “It’s all right, Johnny. Riley and me are…good friends. He gets mad sometimes when I enjoy myself too much with other fellas.”

“That’s too bad for him, ain’t it?”

Riley looked at Rosie, his gaze menacing. “Tell him, Rosie. Tell him you don’t want him hanging around you anymore.”

“Johnny’s a nice fella. We were only talking.”

“Yeah, only talking. I know you better than that.”

Johnny’s expression hardened as he warned, “I’d watch what I said, if I was you, fella.”

Rosie saw Jewel advancing toward them out of the corner of her eye. Jewel had a strange look on her face. It frightened her, and she said in an attempt to placate Riley, “Johnny won’t mind if I spend the rest of my time with you while I’m here tonight, will you, Johnny?” She looked at the frowning cowpoke almost pleadingly and said, “There’s not a girl in the Nugget who won’t be happy to take my place beside you once you walk back through those doors.”

Rosie gasped as Riley’s grip twisted painfully tight and he said, “You don’t need
his
permission. You don’t need anybody’s permission but mine—’ cause you know what’ll happen to you if you don’t listen to what I say.”

Jewel was coming closer. Rosie felt a trembling begin somewhere in the pit of her stomach when she saw Jewel slide her hand into the pocket of her dress. So intent was she on Jewel’s advance that she gasped aloud when Scully appeared unexpectedly behind them and jerked Riley around to face him.

Rosie felt the color drain from her face at Scully’s tight expression. His tone was all the more compelling for its softness when he said in a voice barely audible over the din of the saloon behind them, “It’s time for you to leave, Riley.”

Bold in his arrogance, Riley replied, “I ain’t leaving unless Rosie leaves with me.”

Scully looked at Rosie, his expression cold. Rosie took a backward step at the intensity of Scully’s gaze when he asked, “Do you want to go with him?”

Somehow frozen, Rosie was unable to respond. She heard Jewel answer in her stead, “Rosie doesn’t want to leave with him. She doesn’t want any part of him!”

Ignoring Jewel’s interjection, Scully asked again, “Do you want to go with him or not, Rosie?”

Rosie shook her head.

Scully pressed, “Answer yes or no. Riley needs to hear you say it.”

“No…I don’t want to go with him.”

“You heard her, Riley.” Directing the full weight of his threatening stare at Riley, Scully said, “Either you leave now under your own power, or I’ll personally escort you out of town.”

“No, you won’t.”

“Try me.”

Rosie recognized the rage burning in Riley’s gaze. She saw his hand twitch the second before it moved toward the gun at his hip, then heard Riley’s startled grunt of pain when Scully jammed his fist into Riley’s ribs, halting him. She was breathless as Scully drew Riley’s gun from his holster with a quick twist of his other hand and tossed it to the wrangler beside them, saying “Give this to Bill at the bar. He’ll know what to do with it.” Turning back to Riley, who was still gasping for air, Scully then said, “Let’s go.”

Incredibly, the activity on the boardwalk continued unaffected around them as Scully pulled Riley into the shadows of the alleyway between the buildings.

Rosie turned back to the wranglers beside her with a start when Johnny said, “I guess we don’t have to worry about that fella no more with Scully taking care of things. What do you say we go back inside?”

Rosie nodded. Shaken, she started toward the swinging doors with as steady a step as she could manage.

Jewel hesitated and glanced toward the alleyway where Riley and Scully had disappeared. She looked again at Rosie, who was doing her best to appear as unaffected by the episode as the two wranglers beside her.

Never more conscious of the small gun holstered on her thigh, Jewel did not choose to consider how close she had come to using it this time. She would not have hesitated, and if not for Scully’s intervention—

Jewel preferred not to take that thought any further. Scully had taken over, and he would set Riley straight for the time being. His warning wouldn’t last long, but Rosie would be free of the threat Riley presented for a few more days.

And so would she.

Jewel turned toward the cowboy who had stepped up beside her. She smiled as he accompanied her back into the Nugget. Standing companionably beside Rosie a few minutes later, she squeezed Rosie’s arm in a comradely gesture before joining in the easy banter around her.

Scully stood in the shadows of the alleyway with Riley still breathing raggedly beside him. Speaking in a cold tone that did not reflect the heat of his stare, he said, “Before you leave, I want to make sure you understand you’re not welcome at the Nugget anymore, Riley. Don’t…come…back.”

Riley’s response was a muttered expletive that caused Scully to respond more forcefully, “There’s nothing more to say about it, so just get on your horse and git!”

“I want my gun!”

“You can pick it up at the sheriff’s office tomorrow morning, after you tell him what you tried to do with it here.”

“I didn’t do nothin’!”

“Tell it to the sheriff.”

Still mumbling as Scully escorted him forcefully to his horse, Riley mounted up. His boyish face was dark with fury when he turned back to say, “You think you won, but you made a mistake tonight, Scully. This ain’t the end of it.”

Scully stood fast as Riley kicked his horse into a gallop and thundered down the street. He waited until Riley disappeared from sight before turning determinedly back in the direction of the restaurant. In truth, he had lost his appetite just about the time the image of Rosie’s terrified expression had forced him to retrace his steps and face Riley down.

Scully was nearing the restaurant when he finally acknowledged despite himself that his conversation with Lacey had probably influenced the action he had taken a few minutes previously, that she would probably approve of the way he had defended Rosie. Admittedly, he felt better knowing Rosie wouldn’t have to fear Riley that evening; yet it troubled him to realize—where Lacey would not—that the effort had most likely been a waste of time.

Rosie and Riley would probably be back together before the week was out. That was the way of things—the way it had always been, and the way it would remain.

Scully paused at the restaurant doorway to look back at the brightly lit Nugget. He had no doubt that Rosie and Jewel were laughing and talking inside, continuing on as if the scene on the boardwalk with Riley had never happened.

Yes, that was the way of things, too.

Music and laughter from the Nugget reverberated on the street around Scully as he then glanced up at the starlit night sky overhead, knowing Lacey’s room was silent and peaceful, that she was probably sleeping soundly, her beautiful face composed serenely in sleep.

The sleep of the innocent.

Scully pushed open the restaurant door and walked inside.

“Help me! Help me!”

The cabin was burning behind her. She had escaped from the flames, but she still struggled to breathe.

There was blood on Grandpa’s chest. He was dying!

“Take the Bible, Lacey. Let it show you the way.”