The dog’s throat rumbled guttural threats as he dug his teeth into the man’s flesh. Goodwin cursed and tried to shake him loose, but Ornery held firm.
Eden scrambled to her feet as Goodwin leaned down and closed his left hand on the handle of the discarded bat. He swung an awkward arc and glanced a blow off Ornery’s head. The dog yelped and fell away, thudding onto the ground. But he wasn’t done battling. Ornery shook himself and rolled to his feet. He eyed his opponent, growled, and bared his teeth. Goodwin waved the bat in the air, shouting at the dog to back off. Ornery lowered his head and held his ground. The fighter heaved the bat over his shoulder. Eden jumped forward, thinking to grab the weapon from behind, but the percussive crack of a shotgun pulled her up short.
“Drop the bat, mister, or I’ll fill you so full of lead the undertaker will charge double to bury you!”
Chloe? Eden spun toward her friend’s voice. Sure enough, Chloe stood in the driver’s box of a wagon, a shotgun wedged against her shoulder and a scowling Duncan holding a tight rein on the horses.
The bat fell to the dirt, and Goodwin raised his hands in the air. Ornery retreated until he straddled Levi, then snapped and snarled at the surrounding crowd.
“Ooooh, Chester . . .” Hattie’s voice died off, halting in a thump.
Eden felt no sympathy for the fainting woman, but her heart cheered as she saw Levi’s hand reach out to pat Ornery’s side. He’s alive! Thank you, God. Thank you!
“I warned you about that dog, Grant. He’s a menace.” Sheriff Pratt pulled his revolver.
“No!” Eden cried.
“I’d hate to be putting a bullet in a lawman, so I’d appreciate ye lowerin’ yer weapon, sir.” Duncan now stood beside Chloe in the wagon, a rifle braced against his hip, the reins tied off around the brake lever. The Scotsman’s middle must have been on fire from all the jostling of the wagon ride and the sudden lurch to his feet, but his face betrayed not a hint of it. He looked as steely as a hired gun. “In fact,” he said, “why don’t ye toss it on the ground and kick it back toward that tree, there. Roy, if ye’d collect it, please?”
The bartender stepped away from Violet and strode purposefully toward the sheriff. He retrieved the gun and promptly pointed it at his boss. “You ain’t plannin’ on causing any trouble, are you, Salazar?”
The owner of the Hang Dog moved his right hand away from his hip and shook his head. “No. But you can count yourself out of a job after this.”
Roy shrugged. “I’ve been savin’ up to buy my own place anyway.”
With all the immediate threats to Levi neutralized, Eden rushed past Goodwin and knelt by her blacksmith. She rubbed Ornery’s neck. “Good boy. Easy now. The danger’s over.”
The dog stepped aside and sat down as she instructed, but he remained between Goodwin and Levi, continuing to protect his master.
Eden gently stroked Levi’s cheek, afraid to do anything that would cause him more pain. His thick hair was matted with blood and dirt, one eye had swelled shut, and his lip was twice the size it should have been, but he was breathing, and right now that’s all she cared about.
“Levi? Can you hear me?”
He groaned and tried to lift his head. Eden uncurled her legs from beneath her and carefully steered his battered head into her lap. He sighed. Not caring who saw, she bent forward and pressed her lips to his temple.
“How fares he, lass?” Duncan’s question brought her head up.
“He could use a doctor.”
“Jamison,” he called to one of the quarry workers in the crowd. “Would ye be so kind as to fetch Dr. Adams?”
The man tugged at his collar and tried to duck behind the man at his side.
Duncan cleared his throat and added a layer of steel to his voice. “It’d be a shame for Mr. Fieldman to learn of yer part in these goings-on, Jamison. I’m thinkin’ he might be a tad displeased to learn ye did nothing to help the man who worked beside him to save the lives of yer fellow quarrymen.”
The young man backed away, holding his hands out in front of him as if to ward off the guilt Duncan was dishing out. But he made it to his horse and kicked up a cloud of dust in his hurry to get to town.
“And Reed. Find something to bind our friend’s wrists.” Duncan cocked his head at Goodwin and another quarry worker jumped to do his bidding. “The circuit judge will be deciding his fate.”
“Now hold on,” the sheriff sputtered. “You can’t go around arresting people. I’m the law in this town, not you.”
“That may not be the case much longer.” Eden cleared her throat, choking down the anger and resentment that rose within her as she stared down the cocky sheriff. “I’ll be writing my father this afternoon with the recommendation that the council begin impeachment proceedings immediately. Not only did you fail to protect one of Spencer’s citizens, you forced him into harm’s way.”
Pratt glowered down at her. “I committed no crime here, Miss Spencer. You can’t impeach me.”
Eden’s mind spun, searching for a logical argument to throw in his face. But nothing came. She glared at him, hating the impotence of such a gesture. The harder she frowned, the wider he smiled, the smugness of it eating away at her.
“What about trying to force himself on a woman?” Chloe interjected into the quiet. “That’s a crime, ain’t it, Miss Eden?”
Having Levi’s head in her lap was the only thing that kept Eden from leaping to her feet as outrage sluiced through her veins. “Are you saying that Sheriff Pratt was the man who attacked you that night, Chloe?”
The girl nodded, her cheeks flaming.
Duncan vaulted off the wagon and charged the sheriff, his rifle held like a club.
“No, Duncan! Don’t!” Chloe scrambled after him.
As Duncan barreled past, Eden pleaded with the Lord to intervene. The young man’s ribs would never stand up to Pratt’s fists, no matter how brave his heart. Thankfully, Norman Draper stepped between Duncan and the sheriff at the last minute and wrested the rifle from the Scotsman’s hands.
“Easy, son.”
Duncan reached over the banker’s shoulder to point an accusing finger at the sheriff. “He attacked an innocent young woman. He deserves to rot in that jail o’ his.”
“Innocent?” Pratt laughed. “She’s the daughter of a whore, boy-o. There’s nothing innocent about her.”
Duncan bellowed and launched himself over Draper to get at the sheriff. He punched the lawman square in the mouth before two council members pulled him off.
Pratt worked his jaw and spat out a stream of bloody spittle. “Thanks, fellas. It’s good to know the council has my back.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Norman Draper turned to meet Eden’s eye. “Miss Spencer, in that letter, you may tell your father that I fully support the impeachment proceedings.”
“What?” Pratt yanked his hat from his head and beat it hard enough against his thigh to mangle the brim. “The girl is lying. She’s got no proof.”
“I got a chamber pot with a dent in the bottom that’ll match your head,” Chloe quipped.
Nervous laughter tittered through what was left of the crowd.
Roy stepped forward. “I heard him rake Salazar over the coals for letting the girl escape. Demanded his money back and threatened to close the saloon down if Sal didn’t make it right.”
“And Levi told me that he overhead a man’s voice and a scuffle before Chloe climbed out the alley window,” Eden added. “I’m sure when he recovers, he’d be glad to testify.”
“Hand over your badge, Conrad.” Draper held out his palm, his face stern. “You’re hereby suspended of duties pending a full investigation.”
Pratt slammed his hat onto his head and tore the badge from his vest. Ignoring the councilman’s hand, he hurled the piece of metal into the dirt at his feet and stormed off.
Eden sagged in relief and turned her full attention back to the man stretched out beside her. His breathing was steady, if a bit labored. He lo
oked terrible and no doubt hurt everywhere, but he would mend. Her hand moved to resume its stroking motion over his hair when the less swollen of his two eyes opened and met her gaze. Her fingers froze.
Pounding hoofbeats forecasted the doctor’s arrival, but Eden’s focus never strayed from Levi. “It’s over,” she said.
“I know.” He tried to smile, but his bloodied lip wouldn’t do more than twitch. “Want to tell you . . . got interrupted . . .” His eyelid drooped, and his words drifted away.
Eden’s chest throbbed. “You can tell me later,” she assured him, stuffing down her disappointment while her fingers brushed the hair at the top of his head. “It’s all right to rest.”
“No . . . tell you . . . now.” His words were so low they were hard to make out.
Eden leaned closer.
Levi’s languid eyelid slowly rolled upward. “Love . . . you.”
Chapter Forty-Three
It took a full week for Levi to recover the strength and stamina necessary to walk erect and drive a wagon, but he was determined not to postpone his outing with Eden again. So, the following Saturday he had her in the same buggy, on the same road, headed for the same location—with the same nerves churning in his stomach.
“You’re sure you’re up for this drive?” Eden’s hand lay in the crook of his arm, and she gave his bicep a squeeze. Warmth radiated through him, making him long for more of her touch, for the right to claim her fully as his.
He glanced her way and smiled, the corner of his mouth still tender where the scab tightened the skin. “Yep.”
She smiled back, and the quivers inside him accelerated.
Who would have thought a fine lady like Eden Spencer would ever look twice at a coarse ironmonger like him? Yet even now with his face a patchwork of green, yellow, and deep purple, her beautiful mossy eyes glowed with an inner light that exuded love. For him. A convicted felon. A man with neither wealth nor reputation. A man who couldn’t even properly enunciate her entire name.
A man who returned her love a hundredfold.
He’d be forever thankful for the quarry worker who had seen Duncan and Chloe sitting on the boardinghouse porch last week and casually mentioned the fracas going on at the schoolyard. Had that conversation not taken place, Eden could have been seriously injured trying to defend him, and he’d most likely be dead. Made a man appreciate his aches and pains, when he considered the alternative.
It also made the time he had to spend with the incredible woman at his side that much more precious. Who would have guessed that his little pacifist would become such a fierce warrior when pushed to her limit? Spencer had been abuzz all week with gossip about how Eden had faced down a Goliath with nothing but a baseball bat. It even seemed to overshadow the news about his time spent in Huntsville.
Levi shook his head, a small chortle reverberating in his throat.
“What?” Eden gave him a quizzical look.
“Nothing.” Levi couldn’t hold back his grin, though, and Eden started looking perturbed. “I . . . uh . . . thinking about the time you got mad at me for . . . trampling that cockroach. Then remembered how you lit into Goodwin with that bat. I found it funny.”
The stiffness drained out of her, but she didn’t seem to share his amusement. Instead, she sighed and stared out at the landscape, although he sensed that she wasn’t really seeing it.
“I feel guilty.”
Levi sobered, mentally kicking himself for bringing up the stupid cockroach.
“I’m not sorry for intervening,” she said. “In fact, I’d do it again. But it seems like in choosing to do so, I surrendered my pacifist principles. Am I a hypocrite?”
He laid a hand on her knee. “No, Eden. Not a hypocrite. You are a brave, beautiful woman, a guardian of pea . . . of life. You fought only when you had no other option. Truly honorable.”
Her eyes searched his gaze, and he looked at her with all the admiration that swelled in his heart. She turned away, unconvinced. So he reached across his body and cupped her cheek, drawing her lips to his. It was a light kiss, intended to reassure, but as they swayed with the rhythm of the carriage, the caress deepened. And when Eden splayed her palm across his chest, desire surged so hard and strong, Levi had a hard time pulling away.
Neither spoke as they separated. Eden’s lashes lowered shyly as she dipped her chin, but her arm, hip, and thigh remained pressed snugly against his. A most welcome distraction as he returned his faltering attention to the road.
They crested the final hill, and a sea of blue spread across the field below them.
Eden’s indrawn breath coaxed another smile to his face. “Oh, Levi. How glorious! Look at all the bluebonnets. Have you ever seen anything more stunning?”
“Only you.”
She tipped her head toward his shoulder, a lovely pink blush stealing across her cheeks.
As the buggy rolled closer to the field, Eden sat straighter and leaned forward in the seat. “Levi? Do you see that over there?” She pointed toward the arch. “It looks like some kind of structure. You don’t think squatters have intruded on my field, do you?”
“No.” His heart started thumping and second thoughts started nagging. “I . . . uh . . . built it.”
“You . . . ?”
He nodded.
A smile lit her face. Then, without warning, she lunged back against the seat and held her hands over her eyes. “Tell me when we get there.”
Levi’s brow puckered as he looked from her to the road and back again. What was she doing?
“I want to see the whole thing all at once. Get the full effect,” she answered, as if privy to his unasked question.
She looked like a little girl on Christmas morning, obediently hiding her eyes while her parents fetched her present. Levi chuckled.
When the wagon reached the front of the arch, Levi stopped the horses and set the brake. “Don’t look yet,” he whispered in her ear. He came around to her side of the carriage and lifted her into his arms. She squealed and reached out to steady herself but managed to keep her eyes closed through the process. He set her feet on the ground and led her by the hand until she stood in position. When he released her, she lifted her hands back over her eyes as if afraid she’d give in to the temptation to peek without them in place. He smiled and moved around behind her, tugging her toward him until her back rested against his chest.
Levi ran his palms slowly up her arms, from elbows, to wrists, to fingers. She trembled and leaned more fully into him. He savored the feel of her for a moment, then gently slid her hands from her eyes. “Now.”
Eden gazed at the pillars and arch without a word. As the silent seconds ticked by, Levi found it harder and harder to stand still.
Finally, she turned. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “It is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Taking her hand again, he led her through the arch to one of the benches on the other side. As they sat, he kept her fingers clasped in his.
“Eden,” he said, staring at their joined hands. “I built the arch to reveal my heart. Your name will forever be the focal point, uplifted by love. And if you would permit me, I’d like to build more with you—a family and a life.” Levi raised his gaze to her face, surprised to see wetness glistening on her cheeks. “Eden, will you marry me?”
Her lips curled in a smile that rivaled the beauty of any wildflowers. “Yes. Oh, Levi. Yes!”
She pulled her hand from his and threw her arms around his neck. Joy erupted inside him. He brushed her upturned lips and pressed her body close to his. She sighed against his mouth and tangled her fingers in his hair. Levi’s blood heated. He moved in for another kiss, and another—each meeting of their lips making him hungry for more.
God had granted him a second chance at life, and this second life was far sweeter than anything he could have imagined for himself while in the first.
Epilogue
Spring had retreated under summer’s advance, taking with it the bluebonnets Eden so l
oved. But as Levi leaned against the arch’s pillar and sipped his too-strong coffee, he had to admit that the yellow flowers that had sprung up in their place had a beauty all their own. Sunflowers and smaller black-eyed Susans dotted the field, waving a cheery hello to him as the wind ruffled the prairie grass.
Tomorrow was his wedding day.
Levi grinned as a second thought followed on the heels of the first. Tonight was the last night he would sleep alone.
He pushed away from the pillar and strode up the trail to the cabin he’d built for his bride. Not yet able to afford window glass for the front room, he’d fashioned a large porch facing the wildflower field, where the two of them could sit together and share the happenings of their day.
Emma Cranford had rounded up the Ladies Aid group and organized a furniture drive. They’d collected enough spare pieces to fill a wagon bed and brought them out to the house. Most needed significant repairs, but he and Harvey Sims had managed to make them serviceable. Two mismatched rockers sat on the front porch; a table, two chairs, and a bench graced the kitchen; and a small bedstead and chest of drawers resided in the room that would hopefully become a nursery one day.
Yet, not all their furnishings were secondhand. Eden kept her parlor set, and her pressed-flower art decorated their walls. She also brought in her chiffonier, bureau, and washstand, but after taking one look at the spindly doll-furniture legs on her bed, Levi had insisted on making a new one for them to share. A man needed a bed that would support his weight and not have his feet hanging off the end. So now, in the center of their room, sat a sturdy, oversized, somewhat crudely fashioned bed surrounded by pieces of more refined craftsmanship.
Eden’s mother had been horrified when she’d first seen it, but Eden had argued that the room harmonized perfectly in her opinion. And when she’d looked at him and smiled, he’d seen it, too—a room that reflected the couple who would live and love within its walls.