Cowboy Lawman's Christmas Reunion

As she’d feared, Gerard slammed down his fork and sat back, arms folded over his slender chest. “Make me.” Although he was only ten years old, his growl sounded horribly similar to Lucius’s when he’d been angry, which was often.

Nate questioned Evangeline with one raised eyebrow, perhaps asking permission to correct her son, but Justice took action. He leaned his considerable height over Gerard and gave him a menacing look that made Evangeline shudder. Any criminal would tremble at that look.

“Son, your mother reminded you about your manners.” He repeated Nate’s words in a cool tone. “You say ‘yes, ma’am’ and do what she says.” He spared Evangeline a glance before going on. “In this town, we don’t tolerate recalcitrant conduct among our young folks. Believe me, you don’t want to know how we deal with any boy who disrupts the peace around here.”

Gerard blinked a few times, and his jaw dropped. He glanced at Justice then at Nate, looking trapped. Evangeline could almost laugh at Justice’s choice of a grown-up word like recalcitrant if her son’s recent behavior weren’t one of her biggest heartaches.

“What do you say?” Justice moved an inch closer to Gerard.

Eyes wide, her son stared up at him. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Say it to your mother.”

Gerard gulped and looked at Evangeline. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” Justice sat back and cut into his thick, juicy steak as though nothing had happened.

Nate and Susanna also resumed eating and chatting. But Evangeline saw the rebellion, perhaps even hatred, returning to Gerard’s eyes as he glared at Justice. She could never figure out what was behind those angry eyes, and her son certainly never told her what he was thinking.

“Evie, I’m so thrilled to have you here.” Susanna appeared determined to keep the conversation pleasant. “Once you settle in, I’m going to put you to work on my latest project for the community.”

For the first time since seeing Justice at the train depot, Evangeline felt a spark of hope. “Well, aren’t you the clever one. Do tell, what is your project?”

Susanna smiled at Nate. “We’ve recently finished building a lending library. That is, we constructed the building and the shelves, and we already have several boxes of books donated. What with harvest and roundup and all going on in the fall, nobody’s had time to organize them.” She gave Evangeline a sly smile. “You can be our librarian. What do you think?”

Her pulse racing, Evangeline considered the possibilities. She and Susanna both loved books and had spent many a summer day reading together. Yet she’d been forced to sneak away from New Orleans, not able to keep a single book from Lucius’s vast library he’d inherited from his father but never used. As she tried to visualize working in the Esperanza library, another thought leaped to mind.

“What will I do with the children?” Isabelle would be a big help in the library, but Gerard might prove an insurmountable problem.

“Why, school, of course,” Susanna said. “We have an excellent grammar school. Over the weekend, we’ll let them catch their breath from their long trip, but we’ll enroll them on Monday.”

“Yes, of course.” Evangeline hadn’t thought that far ahead. Escape had been her sole focus when she’d fled her home city.

“And of course you’ll receive a salary.” Susanna gave her a smug smile, pleased with her own plan.

Evangeline was pleased with it, too. Now she wouldn’t have to burden her cousin financially. And what a lovely way to spend her days, far better than anything she could hope for. “Then I would be delighted to accept the post.”

At the other end of the table, Justice and Nate spoke quietly, their faces serious. Were they talking about her? No, she mustn’t assume she was the topic of private conversations, as often was the case among her supposed friends back home. Once Lucius went broke and fell from society’s good opinion and then died at the hands of a fellow gambler, once their lavish home and furnishings—including his books—went on the auction block, everyone had turned away from her. No one believed her innocent or unaware of Lucius’s shady business dealings. No one believed she hadn’t run up those debts with various merchants. When at last the house had been sold and she and the children moved into a tiny shack, where creditors came to hound her for the staggering debts, society entirely cut her off. Those who knew nothing of her husband’s gambling and licentious lifestyle assumed she’d spent her husband into poverty and ruin.

“You’ll have to excuse me.” Justice stood, his sudden movement and awe-inspiring height startling Evangeline from her musings. “My paperwork won’t finish itself.”

“Sit down, Justice.” Susanna waved him down. “I’m not finished.”

A pained look on his face, he obeyed her. “Yes, ma’am. How can I help you?”

Instead of answering, Susanna looked at her husband. “Nate, I’m sure these little ones would like to visit our town’s ice-cream parlor. Why don’t you take them down the street?”

Nate chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.” His knowing smile indicated he understood why his wife made the request.

Once he and the children left—even Gerard couldn’t resist ice cream—Susanna gleefully began her explanation. “Evie, Justice has been working on a special project.”

Justice shook his head and exhaled through pursed lips. “Susanna—”

“Now, Justice, you can’t build that entire Christmas village all by yourself. Evie is a brilliant artist. She can help you.”

Evangeline stared at her cousin. “What on earth are you talking about?” The last thing she wanted was to work with Justice. “What Christmas village?”

Susanna appeared more than pleased with herself. “Every year we have a big Christmas pageant at the church, with a party for the children afterward. Every child receives a toy, usually a carved soldier or doll, which our talented cowboys make. This year, we’re adding another special gift for the whole community, but especially the children. Justice is making a miniature village with a church, houses, trees and all sorts of things.” She shot Justice a smile, which he did not return. “Because there’s so much traffic at the jailhouse, he can’t work on it there because it’s supposed to be a surprise for everyone. That’s why he’s working on it in the library’s locked back room, where no one can see it.” She sat back, grinning. “So that’s settled. You’ll work on it together.”

Her heart dropping, Evangeline could only stare at Justice to see his reaction. He looked trapped, the same way she felt.

Once again, he stood. “You ladies will have to excuse me. I still need to—”

“Yes, of course.” Susanna gave him a gracious nod. “Don’t forget we’re expecting you for Sunday dinner.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He gave her another pained look and nod of resignation, and then bowed to Evangeline. “Ma’am.”

While his unsmiling face sent her heart plunging, the woman within couldn’t keep from admiring his masculine form as he strode from the dining room. Why? From everything she’d seen so far, he wasn’t the least bit happy she would be living in his town. And he certainly wasn’t any more pleased than she was to have Susanna manipulate them into working together on the Christmas village.

Which shouldn’t bother her as much as it did. After all, she’d come here to save her children from the shame and poverty, or even worse, brought on by their father’s evil deeds. To save herself from a lifetime of repaying close to four thousand dollars to an unscrupulous man whose only claim to the money came from beating and probably cheating Lucius at card games, and whose only evidence was his bank’s IOUs supposedly signed in her husband’s shaky hand. Hugo hounded her for the money, which threw her life into torment. But when he threatened to have her declared incompetent so he could take guardianship of her children, she knew she must escape.

Justice didn’t need to know those details of her life. Having an occupation, she could hold her head up in this town. Perhaps by working on the Christmas surprise, she would gain a measure of respect she’d lost long ago back home. And eventually, she’d gather the courage to tell Susanna and Nate everything.

* * *

Justice shuffled the papers on his desk, trying to find some task to add credence to his claim of needing to work. In truth, he had little work to do in Esperanza, which was exactly the way he liked it. He’d joined the Texas Rangers nine years ago to protect innocent folks and imprison lawbreakers. Seeing what wicked men had done to his father, sanctioned all the way by unscrupulous lawmen and politicians, he’d vowed to punish evildoers wherever the Lord sent him.

After four years with the Rangers, he’d felt the Lord call him farther west, and he’d spent a couple of years in Creede, a town way up in the San Juan Mountains near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. The Lord had blessed that time above all expectations, but Justice got restless again. Then his former mentor in the Rangers put him in contact with the owner of the Esperanza Bank, Nolan Means, who needed a bodyguard due to threats from vengeful outlaws. Once the gang was taken down, Justice accepted the post of deputy with the former sheriff, Abel Lawson. Lawson retired shortly thereafter, and the town hired Justice as their sheriff.

Justice was honored by the town’s trust and prayed he’d never do anything to let them down. His goal in life was to develop the reputation of being a no-nonsense lawman whom outlaws feared so much they’d never come near Esperanza. So far, so good. A few suspicious-looking sorts sometimes drifted through town on their travels to the silver and gold mines up near Creede, but he always encouraged them not to linger. While one or two offered resistance, a quick display of his two handiest weapons, his lariat and his Colt .45 Peacemaker, soon sent them on their way.

People seemed to appreciate his approach and supported his methods, and in turn he respected them. Among other sensible laws, the town charter stated anyone setting up a business or even buying property for a home must sign a temperance pledge. No alcohol was permitted in the town limits other than Doc’s medicinal alcohol—a law that kept out the drunks and the troubles they brought.

The only trouble in town, if one could call it that, was a few unruly schoolboys, most of whom straightened up after he gave them a good talking to. He still had his eye on a few of those lads.

Lord, please don’t let Evangeline’s boy get involved with Deely Pine and Cart Fendel. Those two would steer Gerard onto a worse path than he was already headed for with his sullen, rebellious attitude. Justice would try not to think too harshly of the boy. He’d lost his father, a bitter situation Justice understood all too well. And if his mother sought a home with relatives, she probably didn’t have much money, if any. Justice might have to—

Whoa! No use riding down that trail. Unless Gerard did something destructive to someone’s property, Justice wasn’t about to involve himself with Evangeline’s son. Closely resembling his father, he reminded Justice too much of his own past griefs. Let Nate handle the boy out at Four Stones Ranch. Justice needed to stay as far as possible from anything to do with Evangeline and her youngsters.

The plan wouldn’t be easy to follow, thanks to Susanna Northam. Justice was more than content to work on the Christmas village by himself. While on his Grand Tour of Europe, he’d seen many such displays in Germany, had seen how they delighted the children of the towns he visited. Now building one himself, he found the project filled a hunger in him, a longing to do something for Esperanza’s children, since he had none of his own and probably never would have. As she’d said, the back room of the library was the only place in town where he could keep his work hidden from prying eyes. True, he did sometimes wonder if he’d finish in time for the Christmas Eve pageant and party, so a little help would be appreciated. But with the town so quiet, he had little else to do. He couldn’t have known Susanna would hire Evangeline to work in the library and then suggest he needed her help. What a nightmare. He liked Susanna, but sometimes she could be meddlesome when she got a bee in her bonnet. Thanks to her, he’d have to see Evangeline every day whether he wanted to or not.

Irritated with his own thoughts, not at all pleased at being reminded of the most painful events of his life, Justice snatched up a pile of wanted posters from his desk and started thumbing through them for about the fifth time.

“Howdy, boss.” Sean O’Shea, Justice’s deputy, entered the office and whipped off his hat, hung it on a peg by the door, then ruffled a hand through his fiery red hair. “Say, I thought you said you’d never take up old Sheriff Lawson’s habit.” He nodded toward the posters. “You said reading those more than once was a waste of time. Haven’t you read ’em at least three times already?”

“Mind your own business.” Justice’s tone came out much harsher than he intended.

Sean held up his hands in surrender. “Yes, boss.”

“And don’t call me boss.”

Sean snorted out a laugh and sat at his smaller desk across the room. “Must be a woman,” he muttered.

Which almost earned him getting lassoed and dragged across the room.

Except he was absolutely right.

Chapter Two

After supper at Susanna’s house, Evangeline and her cousin settled the children into bed in the rooms they’d share with the three Northam children. At nine years old, Lizzie displayed her mother’s gift for hospitality, welcoming Isabelle as the younger sister she’d always wanted. Gerard actually behaved himself with six-year-old Natty, otherwise known as Nathaniel Junior, and two-year-old Frankie. Gerard probably behaved because the smaller boys looked up to him. Once they all fell asleep, Evangeline and Susanna joined Nate in their lovely parlor.

The moment she sat in the pink-flowered brocade chair Susanna indicated, emotion overtook her, and she burst into tears, as much to her own surprise as to her hosts’. Susanna rushed to her, knelt and pulled her into a comforting embrace.

“There, there, Evie, don’t cry. You’re here now, and everything’s going to be all right.”

Evangeline shook her head. “N-no it won’t be.”

“Nonsense. You’re just tired—”

“Sweetheart,” Nate said patiently, “let her speak. I’d imagine she has a lot to tell us.”

“Oh. Oh, yes, of course.” Susanna stood and drew Evangeline over to the settee where they could link arms. Her warm contact brought much-welcomed comfort. “All right, honey, you talk. I promise not to interrupt.” She sent Nate a sweet smile.

Envying their beautiful marriage, Evangeline shed a few more tears before dabbing her cheeks with the handkerchief her cousin offered. “Where to begin?”

“Well, I’ve been wanting to know...” Susanna sent Nate a sheepish grin. “I promised not to interrupt, but this is important. You could have knocked me over with a feather when you and our Justice Gareau recognized each other, so now I have to know. Is he the secret beau you used to talk about when we were girls? Wouldn’t that be romantic? And here you’ll be working with him on the Christmas village.”

“That was a long time ago and a world away.” Evangeline dried a few more tears. Dear Susanna. She was not only her cousin but the dearest, truest friend she’d ever had. Kindness personified. Would she still love Evangeline once she knew the truth about her flight from New Orleans?

With many pauses to control her emotions, she managed to tell her story, or at least as much as she could bring herself to say. Above all, she didn’t want to sound as though she were begging for pity or help.

“I’m sure you remember our last summer together,” she told Susanna. “The year we both turned seventeen.” She added the detail for Nate’s benefit. “Mama died shortly after we went home to New Orleans.” She wouldn’t add that Mama had discovered Papa’s shady business dealings and had become sick with shame, dying soon afterward.

“Papa arranged my marriage to Lucius Benoit, an older man who’d recently become his business partner.” Papa hadn’t given her any choice in the matter. Still, she wouldn’t recount how much she’d loved Justice and how her father’s cruel intervention had nearly destroyed her.

“Gerard was born the first year, and Isabelle three years later. After that, Lucius became involved in his work, as men do, so we rarely saw him.” She wouldn’t speak of Lucius’s brutality. Near the end, before he was shot, he admitted he’d married her for Papa’s money. But Papa had no money. He’d arranged the marriage thinking Lucius’s supposed fortune would pull their business out of debt. What a bitter irony for both men. And she’d been the pawn in the middle. While Lucius made her pay for it, shame over his beatings kept her silent about them.

“When he died—” she wouldn’t tell them how he’d met his end “—he left a few debts, which I plan to pay back over time.”

“How much debt?” Nate leaned toward her, perhaps to offer help. She couldn’t let him.

“Oh, not much in the grand scheme of things.” She waved a hand dismissively to deflect further questions. After all, it was her business, and hers alone, how much she owed Lucius’s cousin, Hugo. The other supposed debts from various merchants hadn’t been hers at all, but Hugo claimed they were, claimed he possessed notes she’d signed for gowns and hats and shoes. She couldn’t fight against such false charges when no one believed her. If Justice learned she’d fled her supposed creditors, he would surely arrest her.

Nate sat back, his forehead furrowed. “Last winter was pretty harsh, and we lost a lot of cattle, but we expect this year’s herd to put us on the road to financial recovery. If you need help, we might be able to work something out.”

“You’re very kind, but you really needn’t bother. Now with my job at the library—” she squeezed Susanna’s hand in gratitude “—I’ll start putting away money. And the children can work as they get older.” She managed a teasing smile. “Maybe you could teach Gerard to be a cowboy.”

Nate winced and studied his hands. “Maybe I could. We’ll see.”

Evangeline dabbed her damp cheeks again. “Please promise me you won’t tell anyone about this, especially Justice.”

While Susanna gave her an enthusiastic nod, Nate ran a hand down his cheek.

“I don’t know.” His eyes revealed his disapproval. “Since you haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t suppose Justice needs to know, at least not right now. But you should probably tell him someday for the sake of your old friendship.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” Evangeline wouldn’t correct him about not having done anything wrong, or he might change his mind. As difficult as her past had been, her only goal now was to rear her precious children in safety and security. Once they were grown and on their own, she’d return to New Orleans and find some way to repay Hugo what she owed him. Whatever she found to do, it could never be as bad as what he’d demanded of her. As for those merchants and the notes she supposedly signed, it was a problem she had no idea how to solve.

* * *

In his small apartment over the jailhouse, Justice lay on his bed fully dressed because it was his night to be on alert for any mischief in town. Esperanza never had such troubles, but Justice and his deputy still traded off nights to keep watch. Sean was probably sawing logs in his rented room over at Starlings. As for Justice, he couldn’t sleep for thinking about Evangeline. Her beautiful face, which wily Susanna had arranged for him to observe over dinner, bore a haunted look. Was it grief over that scoundrel Benoit? Justice wondered how the man had died, and whether it was his death that had put a burr under the saddle of his sullen boy.

Justice was nineteen when his own father died. A godly, honest man, Father had been ruined by the shady dealings of his business partners, Evangeline’s father and Lucius Benoit, who’d put all the blame for the business’s losses on Benjamin Gareau to save their own necks. Having just returned from Europe, Justice had been too young, too inexperienced, too grief-stricken to investigate the particulars. The same day Father died, the day Justice needed Evangeline’s support more than ever, she’d refused to see him, instead choosing to marry Benoit.

If he could have spoken to her back then, he would have promised he’d work hard to prepare a comfortable life for the two of them, but she didn’t care enough even to bid him adieu. With Mother already long in her grave, he hadn’t seen any reason to stay in New Orleans, so he’d sold the house and furnishings his father left him to pay off his debts, then lit out for Texas. After trying his hand as a cowboy and doing many foolish things in bad company, he’d signed on with the Texas Rangers. Jubal Tucker became his mentor and put him on a straight path and brought him back to the Lord.

He knew the Almighty had brought him to Esperanza, but why had He brought Evangeline here, too? Was this a test of some sort? Was he supposed to—

Gunshots and wild hollering erupted in the street below, followed immediately by the sound of shattering glass. Justice sprang from his bed and raced to the window. Across the street and down a half block, men on horseback were shooting up Mrs. Winsted’s mercantile. Justice grabbed his guns and raced down the back stairs and through the jailhouse in time to see the gang ride off toward the west. No use chasing them. By the time he woke Sean and they saddled their horses, the varmints would be miles away in who knew what direction. He’d try to track them in the morning.

As Justice strode down the street to make sure Mrs. Winsted and her family were safe in their apartment over the store, he decided this was the worst day he’d endured since leaving New Orleans. Not only had Evangeline disrupted his life, but for the first time in his tenure as sheriff, outlaws had shot up a good citizen’s business. What else could go wrong?

Oh. Right. Tomorrow was his birthday. Having his past come back and smack him in the face wasn’t the way he’d planned to celebrate.

* * *

A slender beam of light shone through the window to brighten a patch of wall in Lizzie’s bedroom, waking Evangeline. Despite bawling cattle outside and frigid temperatures seeping into the room, she’d slept hard and awoke rested and full of hope about beginning her new life. Even her dreams of Justice frowning at her from his physical and moral height couldn’t subdue her excitement over her new job, because she’d also dreamed of the Christmas village and already had some ideas for how to decorate it. She looked forward to seeing its size and learning how she could help complete it. What fun that would be.

She rose from the cot and dressed quietly so Isabelle and Lizzie, both still blissfully asleep in the four-poster bed, wouldn’t waken. She found Susanna in the kitchen. The aromas of coffee, bacon and freshly baked bread roused her appetite. “Mmm, smells wonderful.”

“Thank you.” Susanna gave her a quick peck on the cheek before turning back to the sizzling bacon in the cast-iron skillet. “Pour yourself a cup of coffee and have a seat. Nate should be back from his chores in a minute, and we can eat in peace before the children need tending. We let them sleep late on Saturdays.”

Evangeline did as she was told. From her vantage point at the round kitchen table, she watched in awe as her cousin bustled about the room with the grace of a ballet dancer and the energy of a whirlwind. Having never learned to cook, in fact, having spent little time in her own kitchen except to hand weekly menus to the cook, she couldn’t imagine how Susanna knew what to do. Yet the moment Nate entered the back door, his face and hands still damp from washing up on the back porch, everything was in place for him to sit down to breakfast.

After greetings and prayers, they began to eat while Nate told Susanna about his plans for the day. “I still have some work to do at the big house before I head up in the hills on Monday to join Rand, so I’ll be around another day or two. I don’t mind showing Gerard what we do around here while you ladies go to town.”