The Redemption Of Jake Scully
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Well, what had he expected? Did he think Lacey would return the same little girl in pigtails that he had sent away to school years earlier?
Scully remembered that little girl clearly. Lost and alone, and so brave…Charlie’s granddaughter. She had looked up at him with total trust in her eyes, and he had lost his heart to her the moment he saw her. He hadn’t doubted for a moment what he would do.
Memories of Charlie were vivid. Scully had been in his teens when he met the old man. He’d been out on his own after the deaths of his parents—jobless, homeless, without funds and unsure where his next meal was coming from. He couldn’t remember exactly how he met Charlie and struck up a conversation with him, but he did remember that Charlie bought him the first good meal he’d had in days, and that he’d never tasted anything better. He had ending up working with Charlie at his claim for almost a year before starting back out on his own with a stake that Charlie had insisted on providing. He had made good use of that stake, and he had never gone hungry again.
Nor had he forgotten Charlie. Years passed, however, before the old man walked into Scully’s saloon one day and told him he was prospecting in the area, then mentioned during their extended conversation that he had taken in his granddaughter after his daughter’s death.
The next time he saw Charlie, the affable old man was lying dead outside his burned-out cabin.
There hadn’t been a moment during the years following that Scully had doubted providing for Lacey, the poor, wounded little girl in pigtails who had needed him. But the child in pigtails was now a woman—and everything had changed.
Scully remembered the look in Pete’s eyes as he had stood protectively at Lacey’s side. He recalled the stunned silence when Lacey and he had walked through the saloon doors moments earlier.
It had started already.
The truth was, he hadn’t been ready for Lacey Stewart, the beautiful woman who had stepped down from the stagecoach, and the shock of it was with him still. Charlie Pratt had been a rare man, indeed: sincere, generous, God-fearing and God-loving, and the truest friend he’d ever had. But he had also been a scrawny little fella with a crooked smile and bowed legs. Somehow, Scully hadn’t considered for a moment that Charlie’s granddaughter would turn out to be a beauty.
And not only was Lacey beautiful, but she was also a lady, and the combination of the two had set his mind spinning.
His hand on her elbow, Scully ushered Lacey directly toward the staircase to the second floor. Barely acknowledging the greetings of a few customers in passing, he urged her up the stairs. He introduced Lacey briefly to Helen when the old woman appeared at the top of the stairs, then pushed open the door of her room to allow Lacey to enter and followed her inside, making certain to leave the door open behind them. He deposited her case on the bed and turned to face her expectant expression fully.
Lacey looked up at him, waiting for him to speak, and Scully went suddenly still. There she was…the child he had seen ten years earlier. She was visible in the trusting blue eyes Lacey turned up to his, in the shadows of uncertainty he saw there, in the faint glaze of tears gradually overwhelming them. On the outside, Lacey was a mature, beautiful woman, but on the inside she was still the little lost girl who had looked up to him…to whom she had come “home.”
And she was waiting.
His slow smile sincere, Scully said again, “Welcome home, Lacey.”
With a single, spontaneous step, Lacey stepped into his welcoming hug. With that step, the past dropped away. Lacey was again his brave little girl, and he was her protector, provider and guide for her future.
And he was glad.
The hum of curious conversation and leering snickers following Scully and Lacey’s entrance into the Gold Nugget had gradually faded. No one noticed that the swarthy fellow at the bar glanced back surreptitiously over his shoulder to scan the upstairs landing where the couple had disappeared from sight. Nor did anyone hear the angry curse he muttered under his breath before exiting the saloon as inconspicuously as he could manage.
Chapter Two
“I like the Gold Nugget. I don’t want to ‘find a more suitable place to stay.’”
Scully looked at Lacey, who sat across the small table from him in Sadie Wilson’s restaurant, the town’s only eating establishment. They had taken to having breakfast together there each morning, and in the few days since her return, an indefinable bond had developed between them that somehow erased their years of separation and dismissed the reality that they were virtual strangers. Lacey had grown into a woman whose stunning beauty left Scully a bit breathless—yet she was still the determined little girl who had walked miles in a deadening heat, injured and feverish, in order to follow through on her grandfather’s last wishes.
“Scully…”
Lacey had automatically dropped the “uncle” prefix from his name when she saw it was turning heads, and Scully was glad. He didn’t need it to remember he was still responsible for her safety and for the direction of her future.
“Scully…”
Responding with an unconscious furrowing of his brow, Scully said, “The Gold Nugget isn’t the right place for you to live.”
“You live there.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“I own the place.”
“So?”
He could not believe she could be so dense. As determined as she, Scully asserted, “Helen can’t stay indefinitely. She’ll want to go home, and your grandfather wouldn’t approve.”
“Grandpa sent me to the Gold Nugget.”
“He sent you to me, not to the Gold Nugget.”
“He sent me to the Gold Nugget to see you because he knew I’d be safe with you. I am safe with you there.”
Scully took an impatient breath. “You’re a respectable young woman, Lacey.”
“You’re respectable, too.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are!”
Scully stared at Lacey. He had angered her by refuting her statement, but he couldn’t let her dodge the truth. “I own a saloon, Lacey,” he explained. “You saw Pete Loughlin’s reaction when I met you at the stage. Even he didn’t think I’d be a good influence on you.”
“He doesn’t know you like I do.”
“He probably knows me better.”
The startling blue of Lacey’s eyes linked with his. “I don’t believe that.”
“Lacey…things get pretty wild in the saloon at times. Drinking, gambling…and more.”
“Oh…”
Scully remained conspicuously silent.
She shrugged. “I’ve read the Bible, you know. I know about those things. But Jewel and Rosie both told me you don’t allow that kind of activity on your premises. They said they respect you for it, too.”
Scully’s frown darkened. How had Lacey become so friendly with the girls at the Gold Nugget in so short a time? And when had they begun talking so frankly? He didn’t like it. He needed to get her out of there as soon as possible.
He replied, “Whatever the girls said is beside the point.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“A room just became available in Mary McInnes’s boarding house this morning. It’s a fine place—clean and respectable.”
“The Gold Nugget is clean.”
“But not respectable.”
“It’s respectable enough for me.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Lacey was beginning to smart at his insistence. She countered, “Besides, I don’t have an income yet and I can’t afford to pay the board at Mary McInnes’s.”
“Pay the board…”
“That’s right. I don’t intend to let you support me forever, you know. It won’t cost you as much to keep me at the Gold Nugget until I find a position and can start paying my own way.”
“A position…?”
Lacey’s lips tightened.
“No.”
“No what?”
“No position. And I’m not supporting you. I’m only returning a favor to your grandfather.”
“Grandpa may have helped you, but in time, you went out on your own.”
“In time. It’s not time for you yet.”
“When will it be time then?”
“I’ll let you know.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Lacey continued resolutely, “I’m not going to move into the boarding house right now. The Gold Nugget is fine.”
Scully didn’t agree. Choosing to conclude the discussion for the present, he said, “Are you finished?”
“I’m not moving out of the Gold Nugget.”
“With your breakfast.”
“Oh…yes.”
He stood up. “Let’s go.”
Lacey drew herself to her feet as Scully dropped a few coins on the table and nodded at Sadie. She felt the firm pressure of his hand on her elbow as she smiled a quick goodbye at the hardworking woman and Scully guided her toward the door. She knew she had made him angry, but she refused to let him say harsh things about himself in an effort to protect her.
Lacey raised her chin as they walked toward the restaurant doorway. A familiar passage rang in her mind.
Man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh at the heart.
She didn’t need anyone to tell her that Scully’s heart was good. No matter how he looked, she knew the Lord could see that as well as her grandpa obviously had—and she had only to look into Scully’s eyes to see that he wanted only the best for her. As for the outward appearance part…well, maybe it needed work, but she believed the hand of the Lord had played a part in directing her to Scully, she hoped for both their sakes.
Lacey glanced at Scully where he walked beside her. Whether he chose to accept it or not, he had proved to her in so many ways that he was a better man than he considered himself to be. Also, she trusted him. She felt safe with him. Those truths had become more desperately important to her since she had arrived back in Weaver and the vague shadows surrounding her past had begun shifting in her mind.
She was determined not to burden Scully with the lingering fears that haunted her. It was up to her to resolve them. She would, too, but she needed to assume responsibility for her future first.
However, Scully did not agree.
That thought in mind, Lacey stood stock-still as they emerged onto the boardwalk. Scully was still frowning when he looked down at her, and she asked simply, “Are you angry with me, Scully?”
“Angry? No.”
“You look angry.”
His gray eyes searched her face. His gaze softened. “The Gold Nugget isn’t the place for you, Lacey. You know it, and I know it.”
“No, I don’t know that.”
“All right.” He was angry again. “Whatever you say.”
She supposed there would never be a better time.
Dislodging her arm gently from Scully’s grip, Lacey said, “I’m going to stop in at the mercantile store to see if they received any mail for me there. The girls back at the boarding school said they’d write to me the same day I left. They’re very dear. I know they’ll follow through with their promise.”
The anger in Scully’s eyes mellowed. “All right. I’ll be in my office. Come back there as soon as you’re done. I have something to show you.”
Scully did not see Lacey turn back to watch his departure after starting toward the mercantile store. Nor did he see her frown as the thought struck her that perhaps she was being unfair. Scully was a mature, powerfully masculine man. He might not consider himself respectable, but she had seen the way the respectable women in town looked at him. It wasn’t much different from the way the girls at the Gold Nugget looked at him. Maybe she should give him the space he needed.
That thought somehow difficult to accept, Lacey shook her head. Maybe…but not now.
She raised her chin and quickened her step.
Definitely not yet.
Things weren’t getting any easier.
Scully nodded automatically at the heads turning his way as he crossed Weaver’s main street. Taller than most at a height well over six feet, and with broad muscular proportions that belied his supposedly sedentary lifestyle, he was aware that he stood out in a crowd. Dressed as he was in a well-tailored dark suit and fine linen shirt, with a brocaded vest and the dark Stetson he wore pulled low on his forehead, he was also unmistakable as the owner and operator of the Gold Nugget Saloon, the most successful business in town. He had always been proud of his success. He had dressed appropriately and behaved as suited him best, uncaring of fluctuating public opinion.
Scully paused to glance back at Lacey as she walked toward the mercantile store. His jaw tightened at the assessing looks she drew from passing matrons. Those busybodies were already beginning to talk. Given a few more weeks, they would paint Lacey a scarlet woman simply because she lived in a room upstairs from the town’s only saloon—two doors down the hallway from him, the town’s most notorious bachelor.
Illustrating his concerns, Scully watched as a bearded cowboy turned with a sly remark to his friend when Lacey passed them on the street. Scully took an angry step in the man’s direction, then checked himself in time. He’d just make matters worse by defending Lacey’s honor when it needed no defense at all.
Galling him was the reality that Lacey seemed oblivious to the implications that living at the Gold Nugget raised. He was living proof that rumors—sometimes without a speck of truth—spread fast and functioned as gospel. He also knew that once damaged, a woman’s reputation was never fully regained. Charlie had trusted him with both Lacey’s reputation and her future. He owed it to the old man and to Lacey to see that she found a man who was worthy of her—a respectable man who would marry her and give her the good life she deserved.
Scully watched as Lacey neared the store entrance. It occurred to him not for the first time that Lacey dismissed her beauty as playing any part in the person she was, just as she dismissed her own purity of heart with the belief that everyone had the same spark of goodness inside them—including him. He knew that wasn’t true. He had been on the wrong side of that equation for too many years as a youngster not to realize that the spark—if it ever existed in him—had long since been extinguished. He was determined Lacey would never experience that difficult truth firsthand. He was dedicated to that resolve…more than he had ever believed he could be.
Lacey disappeared through the mercantile store entrance, and Scully took a shaken breath. Whoever that respectable man who eventually won Lacey’s hand turned out to be, he’d be lucky, indeed.
Still frowning, Scully pushed his way through the Gold Nugget’s doors. He had started toward his office at the rear when a familiar, throaty voice turned him to the sultry redhead who stepped into his path.
“You don’t have time for a good morning today, Scully?”
Scully’s gaze swept over Charlotte briefly. He remembered the first time he saw her, when she came into the saloon looking for a job a year earlier. He had known at a glance she’d be an asset in his establishment.
Scully’s smile softened. He and Charlotte had both been on their own long enough to be well versed in what the world had to offer people like them.
He responded, “You’re in early today, aren’t you?”
“Maybe.” Charlotte smiled with a quirk of her arched brows. “I’ve got a lot of energy stored up, I guess.”
“Charlotte…”
She said unexpectedly, “I like her, Scully. Lacey’s a real nice girl…innocent, you know? Not like you and me, who’ve seen it all and made our choices.” Charlotte took a step closer. “I expect she’ll make some rancher a real good wife someday. She’s suited to that life. She’ll take to it like a duck to water.”
Charlotte’s heady perfume filled his nostrils as she added, “I’ll see you around, Scully.” She winked. “You know where to find me.”
Charlotte walked back out through the saloon doors, disappearing as quickly as she had appeared, and Scully looked up to the expressive wiggling of Bill’s hairy eyebrows as the rotund bartender stood behind the bar. Bill had the keenest eye in town, but Scully resented having it turned in his direction. He made a mental note to tell him so, too.
That thought firmly fixed, Scully turned toward his office, and within seconds he had slammed the door behind him.
“You’re sure you don’t know of any positions that might be open for a young woman in town…anything at all?”
Wilson Parker stared at Lacey Stewart from his customary position behind the mercantile store counter. He had been standing in this same spot ten years earlier when a bedraggled little girl walked down the town’s main street dragging a scrawny burro behind her. Nobody had been more shocked than he to see how that pale little girl had turned out.
“Mr. Parker…?”
And no one was more incredulous than he as he responded, “Do you mean to say Scully thinks that you should…that he expects…”
“Scully has nothing to do with what I’m intending.” Lacey’s gaze pinned him as her smooth cheeks colored. “Is there something wrong with supporting oneself, may I ask? If I were a man, everyone would expect it of me. Certainly being a woman doesn’t change things that much.”
“But you’re not a woman. You’re a lady.” Lacey snatched back her well-groomed hands as Mr. Parker said, “Scully wouldn’t have to support you forever, just until the right fella comes along.”
The right fella, Lacey thought. There it was again.
Lacey controlled a spark of impatience as she responded, “I have plans for the future that don’t include waiting for the ‘right fella’ to turn up, and I’ll need to earn some money in the meantime.”
“Still, I don’t think—”
“That’s the trouble.” Lacey turned toward Sadie Wilson as the matronly restaurant owner interrupted their conversation. Sadie continued, “You don’t think, Parker. You just react, and this lady here is the kind who chooses to use the abilities God gave her to support herself instead of depending on others. I’d say that’s admirable, wouldn’t you?”
“Admirable?” Mr. Parker shrugged his narrow shoulders. “For a woman your age, I suppose it is, but Lacey—”
Sadie turned her back on the storekeeper, dismissing him with a roll of her eyes that said she had heard it all before. Addressing Lacey directly, she said, “I couldn’t help hearing your conversation, and I’m thinking it might be lucky for both of us that I happened to come in here to get some things I ran out of in the restaurant this morning. The fact is, I’m going to be shorthanded at the restaurant soon. Millie—you know, the redhead with all the freckles—she’s leaving to get married at the end of the week. I’m going to be needing somebody who’s looking for good, honest work.”
Lacey’s heart jumped a beat.
Sadie searched her expression. “It’s not easy work, mind you. There’s a lot of running involved when things get busy.”
“I’m not afraid of hard work.”
Appearing pleased at her response, Sadie replied, “Well then, as far as I’m concerned, you’re hired. The restaurant is busiest in the early morning and during the supper hours. I have a woman who helps at night, so I’ll try you out in the morning. If you’re agreeable, you can start at the end of the week when Millie leaves. I’ll pay you what I was paying her.” Sadie winked. “I’ll be expecting to get more work out of you, though, because Millie’s mind hasn’t been on her job lately.”
“That’s fine with me.” Lacey added, “And…thank you.”
Lacey watched as Sadie walked to the back of the store to scout out her purchases. Her heart was pounding. She had a position and she’d start at the end of the week! She’d have money to pay for her board at the boarding house and she—
Lacey’s high spirits plummeted as she bid the disapproving storekeeper goodbye and started back toward the Gold Nugget with the prospect of moving from the Gold Nugget suddenly looming closer. Also plaguing her was the prospect of informing Scully that she had agreed to take a job. He’d be angry, but she’d remind him that she’d be able to take the room at Mrs. McInnes’s sooner than she thought. That would please him. Lacey pondered that thought. But how would she feel about moving to the boarding house? Mature…responsible…finally self-supporting?
Lonely.
She’d had enough of loneliness. She had thought her loneliness had come to an end when she came home and Scully had welcomed her with open arms.
It looked as if she was wrong.
Scully looked up at a knock on his office door. The knock was tentative…uncertain. It could be no one else.
“Come in, Lacey.”
“How did you know it was me?”
Lacey stood framed in the doorway, platinum hair piled casually atop her head, intense blue eyes putting to shame the pale blue of her dress, delicate features composed in a half smile. A lovelier picture than Scully had ever expected would be his, even temporarily. The thought was disconcerting. He refrained from answering her question. Instead, he stood up, reached for his hat and said, “Come on with me. I have something to show you.”
Around the desk in a moment, Scully took Lacey’s arm. She hesitated momentarily, then said, “I suppose we can talk later.”
Talk. Talk meant continuing the same argument they’d had earlier that morning. He’d had enough of it for the day.
He drew her out of the office with him toward the saloon’s rear door.
“Where’re we going, Scully?”
Again ignoring her inquiry, Scully ushered Lacey along with him, then pushed open the door of the back entrance and urged her out ahead of him into the narrow yard.
He felt the shock that rippled through her.
Lacey gulped. She took a deep breath. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she started toward the hitching post where the small burro was tethered.
It couldn’t be…but it was!
“It’s…Careful!”
The burro’s name emerged from her lips with a sob as Lacey reached the animal in a few running steps. Careful turned his head toward her with a welcoming bray and tears streamed down her cheeks. She slid her arms around Careful’s neck and hugged him tight….
She was a child again. The days were long and sun-filled, and Careful was her loyal playmate, helpmate and friend.
The choking stench of the fire hung on the air. Her grandfather lay dead in front of her and the charred remains of her home behind her. She was terrified and alone, but Careful stood steadfast nearby.
The road was long, the sun hot. Her head throbbed, her legs ached and her throat was parched. She was afraid. She couldn’t walk any farther, but Careful trudged on beside her, limping every step of the way.
The Gold Nugget came into view at last. She couldn’t make it. She couldn’t walk another step, but Careful wouldn’t give up, and neither could she.
She was sick. She didn’t want to get better. She didn’t want to remember…but Careful was alone, and he needed her.
She was fully recovered. She was leaving for boarding school to be educated as her grandpa always wanted. She was leaving Careful behind, and the emptiness inside her ached….
So many years in between. So many clouded memories and uncertainties, but she was home again at last. She knew that now, because Careful was with her again.
Uncertain how long it took to compose herself, Lacey turned back toward the big man who stood silently watchful behind her. Aware that words could not adequately express the full scope of her emotion, she said simply, “Thank you,” then walked into Scully’s embrace.
Enveloped in joyful tears as Scully held her comfortingly close, Lacey was not aware of the well-dressed man lurking in the shadows nearby. She had not seen him lingering in the mercantile, listening intently to her conversation at the counter. Nor had she noticed him following her at a safe distance when she left the store and started across the street.
Standing still unseen, Barret Gould paused to coldly assess the emotional scene unfolding. He had overheard the statement Lacey Stewart made in the store minutes earlier. She said she had returned to Weaver with plans for the future that had nothing to do with Jake Scully. She’d added that her plans didn’t include waiting around for the right man to come along. Both were commendable statements that appeared innocent enough to the average person.