“Thank you, Nathaniel.” Her musical voice generated bittersweet memories for Justice.
While the others traded the usual pleasantries, Justice peeked out from under the brim of his hat. Up close like this, she appeared much more womanly than the seventeen-year-old girl who’d jilted him, but every bit as beautiful, maybe even more so. Her blond hair, swept up in a fancy do and topped with a stylish brown hat, still looked like spun honey. Her once bright blue eyes, however, wore a tired look that bespoke more than travel weariness. Behind her, a flaxen-haired girl and a sandy-haired boy watched her anxiously. Her children? Only one way to find out. Justice nudged Nate, who grinned, obviously misunderstanding his intent. He was concerned about an old friend, nothing more.
“Cousin Evangeline, I’d like to present Sheriff Justice Gareau, one of our town’s most eligible bachelors.”
“Nate!” Susanna smacked his arm and laughed. “For shame. If you’re trying to help me with my matchmaking, at least be a little subtler.”
While she spoke, Evangeline’s ivory complexion grew even paler, those blue eyes widened and, before Justice could catch her, she dropped in a heap on the wooden platform.
* * *
Even in her hazy awareness, Evangeline understood at last why she’d come to Esperanza. The Lord hadn’t sent her to Susanna to escape justice, but to encounter Justice. But how had he known where she was? How had he arrived here before her? What irony. Her creditors had sent the only man she’d ever loved to arrest her. And from the stern look she’d seen on his face before she fainted, he felt no pity for her, despite his youthful declarations of love. She couldn’t blame him. Papa had forbidden her to see him, had broken their engagement himself so she’d had no chance to explain herself to Justice. Nor had Justice come to rescue her, despite her plea through his father, proving his love for her had turned cold. Ah, yes, my dear. The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Or so Lucius had often told her as he’d traipsed off to enjoy his many vices.
The sound of sobbing reached her ears. Her poor children. Evangeline forced herself to awaken even as heat flooded her face. She’d fainted few times in her life and then only because Lucius had... She would not think about those frightening times. Lucius was gone forever, and now she must face the cruel future he’d laid out before her. At least her children would have a home with their cousin after Justice arrested her.
“Evie. Evie, dear.” Susanna’s plaintive voice cut through Evangeline’s muddled musings. “Oh, Nate, do something.”
But it was Justice who scooped her up from the wooden platform. For the few brief moments he carried her, she could rest her head against his broad, solid chest, her cheek touching the tin star that proclaimed him a lawman, and pretend their lives had turned out the way they’d dreamed of when they were young.
She opened her eyes to a shaded room inside the train depot, where Justice set her down on a bench and sat beside her, one arm still supporting her. She blinked to clear away the last of her fogginess. A telegraph operator sat by his machine, his kindly old face filled with concern. Susanna held on to Evangeline’s children. All three bore frightened expressions, with Isabelle and Susanna sharing their family resemblance and Gerard wearing his father’s anxious scowl.
“You see, children, Mama’s going to be all right.” Susanna released them and sat beside Evangeline, touching her forehead and then gripping her hand. “No fever, thank the Lord. I’m sure you’re exhausted from your travels, but Nate went for the doctor just the same.”
“Thank you.” Evangeline continued to lean against Justice, unwilling to end her fantasy.
He still hadn’t spoken, but she could feel his heartbeat, its rapid pace saying volumes. So he was not without some feeling for her.
She looked up into that beloved face. The years had been good to him, for he was even more handsome, more manly, than he’d once been. As she regarded him, the concern written there quickly disappeared, replaced by a hard facade. Yes, he was indeed going to arrest her.
“Hello, Justice.” She moved away from him.
He touched the brim of his hat, a surprising courtesy toward someone he must consider a criminal. “Mrs. Benoit.”
She managed a wobbly smile. “So formal.”
“What on earth?” Susanna practically bounced where she sat, not the ladylike behavior they’d learned as girls. “Do you mean to tell me you two know each other?” She laughed. “No wonder you fainted, Evie. You must be shocked to see someone you know way out here in Colorado.” She stared meaningfully into Evangeline’s eyes.
Dear Susanna. She’d understood Evangeline’s desperate letter asking for a secret place to rear her children. As girls meeting each summer for family holidays, they’d devised a code to say more than plain words. What she hadn’t told her cousin was that her desperation stemmed from Lucius’s impossible debts to his cousin, Hugo Giles, which she must repay, and the debts he claimed she owed to several New Orleans merchants. And then there were Hugo’s other, more unthinkable threats. Her flight from him might have been enough for Susanna, or at least Nathaniel, to withhold their generous invitation to live at their ranch. She’d tell them, of course, when the time was right and it wouldn’t sound like a plea for money.
“Well.” Susanna, always so cheerful, now looked at Justice. “Sheriff, you simply must come with us to the hotel for dinner so you and Evie can get reacquainted.”
“Uh, I have some paperwork—”
“Nonsense. You have to eat.” While Susanna continued reasoning with him, a wild sense of relief flooded Evangeline and almost brought on another, much different sort of fainting spell.
Meeting him at the train had only been a coincidence. Justice didn’t mean to arrest her after all. Perhaps he didn’t even know about her flight from Hugo.
He moved a few inches from her, his face a study in misery. “Susanna’s not going to let up until I say yes. Do you mind if I join you?”
“Not at all.” She copied Susanna’s bright tone as much as her fatigue permitted. “That is, if you’ll agree to address me as Evangeline, as you once did.” He’d always claimed it was the most beautiful name he’d ever heard.
The ripple of his clenched jaw both thrilled and worried her. “I’ll join you if you insist.”
“Well...” Evangeline must set him free, since he didn’t want her company.
“Of course we insist.” Susanna stood. “Now, let’s leave so Charlie can go back to work.” She gave the telegraph operator a friendly wave. “Come along, children.” She reached out to Isabelle and Gerard, both of whom pulled back. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Mama?” Isabelle sent Evangeline a questioning look.
Gerard merely scowled, nothing new for him. He’d been unreceptive to every suggestion she’d made since his father died, despite Lucius never giving either child a modicum of affection.
“Yes, of course.” Evangeline stood, swaying slightly before she regained her balance, and gripped each child by the hand. “Come along. I’m sure you’re as hungry as I am.” She smiled over her shoulder at Justice, whose face once again became a granite facade.
If he wasn’t
