Salvation in the Sheriff's Kiss(83)
“You’ll never prove a thing. It’ll be your word against mine. Who do you think they’ll believe? An outlaw, a gunman? The daughter of a cattle rustler?”
“I found the evidence,” Meredith pointed out.
If Laidlow’s gaze had been daggers she would have expired on the spot.
Hunter looked at her for the first time and she caught a glint of fear and relief etched into his face. He was alive. He was standing here before her when she’d feared she would never see him again and he was alive. All the maybes, would haves, should haves rushed back to her and in the back of her mind a question formed: Could she? Could she forgive? Could she at least try?
She wasn’t sure and right now it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that he was alive. The rest they could figure out later.
“It’s under the bed,” she continued. “Vernon said Pa had enough evidence on the Syndicate to see them all hang.”
Laidlow jerked the rifle harder against his shoulder and pulled the trigger. Two shots rang out, but Meredith didn’t see either of them. Bill’s saunter had brought him closer to her and the second Laidlow’s finger pulled the trigger, Bill turned so all she could see was his back.
A scream caught in her throat as she waited for Bill to fall to the floor. It didn’t happen. He turned around and smiled at her. Smiled!
“Your pa never loaded that damn rifle of his. He was too afraid you’d get your hands on it once you figured out where he kept it hidden.”
When Bill stepped away, Hunter and Caleb were hauling Laidlow to his feet, a bullet hole in each leg.
“He’s not dead,” she whispered.
Hunter turned to her and his expression softened. “Thought it might be better to let the law deal with him.” He nodded toward the bed. “Bring the evidence. I’m sure a jury will love to see the truth for a change.”
Breath rushed in and out of her lungs. Bill nudged Hunter out of the way and he and Caleb struggled with the barely conscious judge, pushing and pulling him through the bedroom door to the horses waiting outside.
Hunter walked over to where she was rooted to the spot, unable to move. “Are you okay?” She nodded. Yes. No. Maybe. “You think when all this is said and done we might get a chance to talk?”
Meredith nodded again. “I think I’d like that.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Meredith swept the dust on the floor of the back room into a tidy little pile, humming as she went. The fire in the woodstove created a cozy warmth that spread into the shop area out front. It would be a few weeks yet before she opened for business, but for now she was enjoying the preparation. Trunks containing bolts of cloth were stacked along a far wall waiting to be unpacked and put on display, her books of patterns resting on top. She’d also ordered accessories, though it would be another month or so before they arrived.
It had been almost two weeks since the incident at the homestead. Laidlow sat in the jail cell once occupied by Bill and awaited his own trial, scheduled to start early next week. Meredith was set to testify, but most of the evidence against him would come from her father.
She had visited Pa’s grave, let him know his permanent marker was on the way, though below his name she had decided against the epitaph of an innocent man. By now, everyone in town knew he was exactly that. Instead, she requested below his name the phrase: Look into yourself.
She had realized in the days following, her father’s cryptic riddle had also been wonderful advice and she had taken it. She examined her feelings, let go of the anger and resentment she had carried for so long, and learned to forgive. It hadn’t been easy, and at times it hadn’t been pretty, but she’d forced herself to do it. She’d put herself in Hunter’s shoes and asked what would she have done to save him? The answer came swift and easy. She would have done anything. How could she blame him for doing the same?
She had been on the precipice of death, gazed down its gaping jaws and been snatched to safety by Hunter, Caleb and Bill. It gave her a different perspective on things. And her father’s letter helped.
Inside the package hidden behind the mirror, Pa had left something else. A letter to his daughter, filled with fatherly advice. He reminded her of the love he shared with her mother, but he also reminded her of the past they both needed to overcome. He had not come to her mother a gentleman of honor, he claimed, but a man with a past far less respectable than she deserved. But their love allowed her to forgive his past mistakes and forge a new future. The words hit home and she wondered if her father hadn’t foreseen the problems the promise he’d extracted from Hunter would cause down the road.