The Widow's Touch (A Whimsical Select Romance Novella) (11 page)

“Andy,” Eloda shakily called out.  “Please, don’t hurt him!”

“Send her out and we’ll let him go,” the man said to Jack.

“I’ll go, Jack,” Eloda said, and she tried to press herself around him, but Jack blocked her attempt with the broad expanse of his arm.

“I’m not sending you out there,” he said, sternly.

The man slowly walked and made his
way closer towards the gallows.  Eloda glanced at the road and saw that only a sparse amount of people remained—some for the spirit of the fight and others too shaken to move their feet.

“I don’t recall seeing him around town before,” Jack said.  “You know who he is?”

Jonathon stepped forward. “That’s Shultz’s brother.  He moved to Pennsylvania a couple months ago but returned for the trial to testify after hearing Ellen changed her testimony.”

“Was
he this upset during the first trial?” Jack turned and asked Eloda.

Eloda stood near the back door with her hand on the knob.  “Yes, and he isn’t one to make idle threats, Jack.”   With that, Eloda walked out the back door and allowed the crowd that still remained there to gather her into their arms.

She heard Jack’s shout of anguish before she closed and locked the door, taking the iron ring of keys with her.  The men, who salivated at the chance to kill her, hauled her to the front and to Mister Shultz.  Once they arrived there, Jack was already in the middle of the road and faced Shultz, only a few feet separated the two men.  When he saw the men dragging her toward Shultz, Jack aimed his gun threateningly at the offenders.

“No, Jack,” she begged.  “Take Andy to safety, please.”
  When the man didn’t release Andy, she shouted, “You have me, now let him go!”

“Not until you hang,” Shultz said, and he warily watched the other deputies as they made their way down from the roof
tops and surrounded him.  “Once finished, the sheriff and deputies can have the boy.”

T
he men grasped tightly around her arms and Eloda struggled to break free.  “Let me go,” she strained out.  “I’ll go to the gallows.  Just let him go,” she strained as she pulled and kicked the men who restrained her.

“Release her,” Shultz ordered.

They released her and she walked toward him and Andy.  She was more frightened than she had ever been in her life, but kept calm for Andy’s sake.

“It’s going to be all right,” she said, and smiled
at Andy.  “They’ll let you go, I promise.”

“But Mrs. Timmons, you can’t,” the boy argued
, and tears flooded his eyes.  “You don’t deserve this,” he cried.

Eloda reached out
to take Andy’s hand and console him, but Shultz pulled him back, hard.  “I want you to live a long, good life, Andy,” she said sternly to him.  “Promise me you will.”

His face was drenched in tears and
his throat was too full of those yet to shed.  He couldn’t speak so Andy gave a single nod to seal his vow.

“Sheriff,” Shultz called out.  “
Drop your guns and take her to the gallows,” he ordered.  “Tell your men to throw down their guns too.”

“No.”  Jack’s eyes narrowed at the man.

“Do it,” the man shouted, and squeezed the boy’s neck so hard that Andy began to gasp and his eyes rolled back into his head.

“Jack!” Eloda screamed.

“All right,” Jack shouted at the man, and he tossed his pistols and rifle down at the man’s feet.  Nodding his head towards his men, they pitched their guns toward the man as well.  Jack slowly walked towards Eloda.

Taking her by the arm, he led her trembling body
in the direction of the gallows where three figures stood with hoods, and one of them held a hangman’s noose.

“I love you,
Jack” she said as they walked toward the steps of the gallows.  Being the only man she had ever loved, she didn’t want to leave her life without saying the words aloud.

“Shut up,” Jack said, angrily.

“Truly,” she
said, astonished, and faltered her steps. “You couldn’t afford a dying woman the grace of not being rejected only moments before her death?”  She looked at him completely bewildered.

“
Woman, you’re a fool to have left that jailhouse and place yourself in this position.”

S
he looked at him and sighed.  Stepping her way to the top of the gallows, she addressed the three men who were shielded with sheets over their heads.

“E
dward, James, and Ned, does your mother know you are here?” she scolded.

“How did she know?
” a disappointed voice called from beneath on of the sheets.

“Shut up, Ned, she’s
only taking a guess, you idiot.”

“All three of you have
terrible scuffs on your boots from spending every day at Lindy’s Lake kicking stones.”

The brothers
, who were all barely of shaving age, pulled their masks off and their innocent young faces looked scared.  “Don’t tell our ma,” they pleaded in unison.

“I believe you’ll be making sure I don’t,” Eloda said, and pointed at the noose in Edward’s hands.

As if the noose had turned to hot ember, Edward dropped the rope to the wooden boards beneath his feet and ran down the steps.  The other two boys, who looked more terrified than she felt, quickly followed after their brother down the steps.

“Check the noose, Jack,” she muttered and nodded to the rope.  “Make sure those boys have it right.  Don’t let me strangle to death, please,” she begged, and fearful tears reached her eyes.

“
Hitch her up,” Shultz ordered to Jack, and he had moved to the front of the gallows with the boy still in tow.

“I’ll not do it,” Jack
shouted in return.   

Eloda looked at the men, about fifteen in all, who stood with Shultz.  It wasn’t the rowdies known
about town.  No, it was wealthy shopkeepers and county politicians.  She shook her head, disgusted.  None had the guts to do the deed for themselves and forced Jack to do their dirty work so in their small minds they remained clean.

“There’s no need,” Eloda called.  “I’ll do it
myself.”  When the man didn’t look to be in agreement, she reached for the noose and placed it over her head.

“String her up, Finley,” the man called
out.

Jack didn’t immediately move
and stared Shultz down.  After thoroughly glaring at all the men beneath the gallows, he reached down to the scaffolding floor and retrieved the other end of the rope.  He stared for several moments at the rope in his hands and then deeply into her eyes.  He slightly nodded and gave a painful smile and she felt he was trying to relay a message to her. 

“What are you doing, Jack,” she whispered,
confident he had something planned.

He eyed her carefully and tossed the rope over the beam
above; leaving only a small amount of rope for her to fall through the trap door once it was released.

“A short drop,” she whispered, terrified, after she realized
his intent.  He was trying to assure her neck wouldn’t break, but in the process, she would strangle.  Her single most fear in life.  But it afforded him time, at the most five minutes, to save her before death would take her. 

Violently shaking,
Eloda nodded her head.  She knew it was her only chance, but she was shuddering so fiercely that she feared that her movement alone would cause her neck to break when dropped.  Jack approached her from behind and loosed the pin from her hair, and her locks flowed down past her neck and down her back like a wave of water over her. Adjusting the noose and falsely appearing to tighten it, he left it loosened upon her neck.  Before he stepped away, he grasped her arms on either side and breathed out heavily.  He kissed the top of her head and she felt his hot, labored breath against her skin.

“I love you, too,” he
finally said before he stepped back and released the trapdoor.

 
She struggled for breath and only caught slight glimpses of what was going on in front of her as Jack’s deputies overtook Shultz and his men.  Gunshots rang out from all around her.  The last image she saw before she lost her battle to breathe was Jonathon leading Andy to safety.

Then
, everything went dark and silent.

When her eyes opened,
she realized she was on her cot in the jailhouse and Jack hovered protectively over her.  She tried to speak but her voice was too raspy and she couldn’t be heard.

“Don’t try to speak,” Jack ordered,
he and brought a cup to her lips.  He smoothed over her hair as she drank.  “You’ll be sore for a while, but all is intact and it doesn’t look like any permanent damage took effect.”

Eloda nodded
and gently massaged her neck which felt raw inside and out.  She pointed to her eyes and grimaced.  They burned and ached and she looked at jack questioningly.

“They’re full
of blood from being strangled,” he said.  “In time, they’ll go back to normal too,” he soothed.

Eloda nodded and breathed in as deep as she could and appreciated the air around her more than she had ever before.
  After facing her fear and surviving, she was sure she could conquer anything, even Jack’s heart.

Jack thumbed his hand toward the painting she had been working on since she arrived.  “You
are an exceptional artist, Eloda,” he complimented.  “More true to life than any portrait I’ve ever seen.”

He stared at the painting which rendered the likeness
es of Andy and his mother, and Eloda appraised it as well.  She pointed to Andy’s image and urged for information about his safety.

“Jonathon saw to it he got home safe.  A few deputies
will keep watch on him the next few days to make sure all stays well, but I don’t expect any trouble.”

She nodded her head
and was relieved that the boy was be all right, although she was rightly sure it would be a long time before he forgot the horrors he had been through. 

Jack
intensely stared at the painting again and she cautiously looked at him.  Worry and fear consumed her.  She knew that look upon his face, all knowing and resolute.

“Very lifelike, indeed,” he mused aloud. “Like that birthmark beneath the cuff of h
is jacket, right here,” he said, and Jack pointed at the boy’s arm in the painting.  “Barely visible, but it’s clearly a horseshoe,” he stated.

Eloda shook her head, worriedly, and bit at her bottom lip.

Jack turned and stared at her with eagerly questioning eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me Andy is Timmons’ boy and he’s the one who killed him?”

Eloda rose from the cot
and panic struck her, but she was relieved that they were the only two in the jailhouse.  No one overheard what Jack had said.

“How did you know?” she
grated out, holding her throat for comfort.

“After seeing the identical birthmarks
,” he said pointing at the painting, “I put it together.”  He stood up and looked down at her.  “When he bumped into you that day, he seemed way too broken up over such a small mishap, and then I started to think about all you two had said to one another each time you met up.  It just all started to make sense.”

Eloda slowly nodded her head. “
I didn’t know he was Peter’s son until that night,” she said.  “Peter was going to shoot him when Andy confronted him about being his father.  He wanted Peter’s financial help so he and his mother wouldn’t starve.  Winter had brought on a real hardship to them.”

“Take your time,” Jack said when she struggled to release her words.  He
sat down next to her and forced her to sip from the cup again.

“
Peter had the boy on the floor, kicking him, and I was powerless to stop him.  Peter shoved me away and took aim at Andy, so he grabbed the rifle and tried to fend him off.  They struggled and when I thought Peter had the best of him, the rifle ignited,” she whispered.  “Peter was left dead.”

“And you decided to take the blame?”

She nodded.  “This town has treated that boy horribly since he was a small boy.  You’ve seen for yourself how poorly,” she added.

Jack
lowered his head and nodded.

“
Being such a lowly sort, they’d never have wasted time on a trial before they hanged him. I couldn’t stand by and see that happen to someone so young and innocent,” she whispered, and her eyes filled with tears.  “I gave him some money and told him to leave and never again speak of what happened,” she painfully scraped out, and she winced from the burning pain in her throat. 

“Enough
talking,” Jack said softly.  “You need to heal.”

“Are you going to arrest him?”
  She reached for his arm and pleaded for his mercy within her eyes.  “It truly was an accident, Jack, and it was all instigated by Peter.”

He looked at her thoughtfully
and shook his head.  “If the truth is revealed, they’ll see you as an accessory to the crime, Eloda.”  His eyes narrowed warningly at her.  “Considering the events of this trial, there will probably be a mistrial.  Then I’ll be forced to testify against you at a new one for what you just told me.”