Love Thine Enemy (17 page)

“I’m cold,” Kayla said with a shiver.

“Can we go?” Lindy asked.

“Bonkers doesn’t—”

“—like the rain.”

“He wants—”

“—to go home, too.”

“Of course.” Cheryl turned away and herded the girls toward the truck.

The twins told them what had happened as they drove back to the ranch.

“The man said he was going to Wichita,” Kayla began after she exchanged looks with her sister.

“We decided to go and wait there for you,” Lindy admitted.

“Then you’d have to bring us home, and you could stay some more.”

“We were in the dark a long time.” Lindy’s voice grew dramatic.

“And we didn’t like it,” Kayla added.

“The truck stopped, and we thought maybe it was Wichita, so I opened the door to see and—”

“—Bonkers jumped out.”

“We got out to catch him but—”

“—the truck drove away and left us.”

“It started to rain, and Bonkers ran into the church. The door wouldn’t open very far, but we got in.”

“Bonkers ran over some boards to a dry place, and we followed him. Then the boards fell down, and we couldn’t get out,” Kayla finished in a rush.

Sam shook his head. “This was the most harebrained idea you’ve ever cooked up. You’re grounded till you’re twenty-one.”

“But, Dad!”

“Two weeks, and I don’t want to hear another word.”

Sam radioed the ranch to let his mother and grandfather know that the twins were safe. Eleanor and Walter were waiting when he drove into the ranch yard. Cheryl recognized her sister’s green Mazda parked in front of the house. Eleanor knelt down, and the girls ran to throw their arms around her in a big hug.

“Hi—”

“—Grandma.”

“You girls scared me to death,” she scolded.

“We’re—”

“—sorry.”

Walter watched them with an indulgent smile. He looked at Cheryl and said, “Your brother told the sheriff
about the Double R cowboy who was looking for help to heist some cattle. His tip paid off.”

“You found Harvey?” Cheryl’s sadness lifted a little as he nodded. At least Sam had a chance now to get the ranch back on its feet.

“Apparently, he tried to sell them in his hometown just outside of Emporia. He had a forged bill of sale, but it seems he didn’t have an explanation for why his bull had rose-pink toenails. The sale barn operator got suspicious and notified the law.”

Eleanor gave the twins a small push in Walter’s direction. “Take them in the house and get them cleaned up, will you?”

He nodded and took each girl by the hand. “Come and tell Grandpa all about it. How long are you grounded for?”

“Two whole weeks,” Lindy admitted with a long face.

“That’s not bad. Did I ever tell you about the time I got grounded for a whole year?” his voice trailed off as he led the girls into the house.

Eleanor faced Cheryl. “Your sister is here,” she said just as Angie stepped out onto the porch.

Sam came up beside Cheryl. “You’re leaving now?”

“Yes.”

She waited for him to speak, to ask her to stay, but he didn’t. She forced a smile to her face. “I’m glad you’ll get your cattle back, and I’m glad the girls are safe and I’m sorry—about everything.” She turned and hurried to her sister’s car, determined that no one would see how much her heart was breaking.

Sam watched her go. He’d been so wrong about her. He’d let his festering pain and anguish over his wife’s
deceptions keep him from seeing the truth about her. He loved Cheryl, but at the first test of that love, he’d failed her miserably.

Her sister stopped in front of Sam and held out her hand. “Thanks for taking care of Cheryl.”

Sam took her hand and nodded mutely.

Angie glanced toward the car where Cheryl sat with her head bowed, then back at him. “Oh, come on. You’re not really going to let her go, are you?”

“She doesn’t want to stay.”

“You can’t be that stupid.” She eyed him for a long moment, then shook her head. “I guess you can.” She started to walk away, but stopped and turned back to him. “She loves you, you know.”

Sam’s gaze moved to where Cheryl sat quietly in the car with her head up staring straight ahead. “She never told me that.”

“Men. Do women have to tell you everything? Cheryl is the bravest and most loyal person I know, and you’re a fool if you let her go.”

She walked down the steps and joined her sister.

His mother laid a hand on his arm. “Are you okay, son?”

“You heard her. I’m a fool.” Sam watched them drive away and swallowed the lump in his throat. “She’s the wrong kind of woman for me. Her career will take her all over the world. She said herself that she doesn’t have time for a family, or children. Yet, today, she risked everything for Lindy and Kayla. She’s the wrong kind of woman in every way, except she’s the only woman who can fill my heart and my life. And I just let her go.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, Mom. I just don’t know.”

She reached up and cupped his face between her hands. “You’ll figure it out, Sam. I know you will.”

“I don’t see how you can be so sure.”

“I have faith. Besides, your mother didn’t raise no fool.”

C
heryl completed a single pirouette on her left foot and frowned. Dressed in a leotard and toe shoes, she worked out in her sister’s spare bedroom.

“Does it hurt?”

Cheryl looked up and smiled at Angie in the doorway. “Not much, but it’s weak.”

“You should give it a rest.”

“I can’t.” She rose on her toes again. “I have an audition in two weeks, and I need to be ready.”

“Jeff and I are going out to dinner tonight. Why don’t you join us?”

“No thanks.” Cheryl began another spin.

Angie walked up and stopped her by putting both hands on her shoulders. “If he hasn’t called by now, he isn’t going to.”

Cheryl bowed her head. “I know,” she admitted.

“You can call him. The phone works in both directions.”

The doorbell rang, and Angie frowned at the interruption. She gave her sister a firm shake. “Go back
to him or go on with your life, but don’t stay in limbo.”

Cheryl stared at the phone on the bedside table. It had been two weeks, and every day she had hoped and prayed for some word from Sam, but she’d heard nothing. Did she dare call him? Her sister was right—she had to go back to him and try again, or get on with her life.

She sought strength in her new faith and found it. She could not see God’s plan for her, but she couldn’t imagine her life without Sam and the girls in it. She had to give it one more chance. She took a deep breath and reached for the phone, but stopped at the sound of her sister’s laughter.

“Well it’s about time,” Angie said. “What took you so long?”

“We’ve been grounded.”

“For two whole weeks.”

“It was really bad!”

“No TV—”

“—or nothin’”

Cheryl dashed into the room and froze as a wave of happiness spread over her. Sam stood in her sister’s living room, looking nervous and uncertain. When he saw her, that endearing, crooked grin appeared on his handsome face.

The twins stood on either side of him. Kayla held a bouquet of roses she could barely see over, and Lindy held a giant, red, heart-shaped box of chocolates. Bonkers sat in front of them. He wore a bright-red ribbon tied around his neck with the other end firmly knotted to Sam’s wrist.

Sam smiled at her. “You said the next time I wanted to get you to come home with me, I would have to promise you chocolate and roses.”

Tears of happiness stung her eyes as she walked up to him and laid her hands on his chest. “My price has gone up since then, cowboy.”

“Oh? What’ll it take now?”

“I won’t settle for anything less than a cowboy, two kids and a cat.”

“That can be arranged.” He gathered her into his arms and kissed her with such fierce longing, it stole her breath away.

He drew back and studied her face. “When Natalie left me, she left a hole big enough for Harvey to walk though. I didn’t know if I could ever trust my heart to another woman again. Then God brought you into my life, and before I knew it, you had mended my heart.

“I’ve prayed and done a lot of soul searching in the past two weeks. It wasn’t that I couldn’t trust anyone else, it was that I didn’t trust myself. If I had been more open, less worried about getting hurt, you might have been able to confide in me.”

“I’m so sorry, Sam. It was a mistake I’ll never make again. I don’t deserve your love, but I love you with all my heart.”

“You deserve a better man than me. God willing, I’m going to spend a lifetime trying to become that man. And I don’t want you to give up ballet,” he said sternly. “You can go anywhere in the world to work as long as you come home to us.”

“Ask her, Daddy,” Lindy urged.

“Yeah, ask her,” Kayla added.

Motioning to them with one hand, he said, “Just wait a minute.”

He looked back at Cheryl. “The girls and I understand we’re going to have to share you. We’re prepared
for that. I only hope ballerinas make good money because the airfare back and forth to New York is going to cost us a bundle.”

“Do you think I’m worth it?” she asked with a shy grin.

He pulled her close. “Oh, yes.”

“Ask her, Daddy,” Kayla insisted.

Cheryl forced her face into a serious pose. “Ballerinas don’t make that much money. I think all I’ll be able to afford is the gas to Kansas City and back.”

“What do you mean?”

She smiled broadly. “I have an audition with a ballet company in Kansas City next month.”

She grew serious as she studied his face. “It will mean I’ll be away working—sometimes for weeks at time. It won’t be easy, Sam.”

“I know.” He smoothed her hair with his fingertips. “But it can’t be as hard as life without you. I tried that for the past two weeks. It didn’t work. I’ll support you in anything you want to do.”

“I want to perform for at least another two years, then I want to do something else.”

“Anything. I’ll never stand in your way.”

“I want to teach. I want to start a dance school in Council Grove.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“Ask her, Dad.”

“Yeah, ask her.”

Cheryl grinned down at the girls. “Okay, ask me what?”

“To marry him,” Lindy blurted out.

“And be our mother,” Kayla added.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Like they said—will you marry me?”

“In a New York minute. I love you, Sam.” She
cupped his face and kissed him with all the love she held in her heart.

The twins grinned at each other and winked.

Bonkers began to purr, but no one noticed as he wound the red ribbon around and around their boots and ballet shoes.

In the little dressing room at the back of the stone church on the outskirts of Council Grove, Cheryl Steele planted her hands on her hips. “This veil is crooked. I can’t possibly wear it.”

“Hush,” Angie said. “Come here and let me fix it. There.”

Cheryl turned around. “Well? How do I look?”

“You look…radiant…beautiful…. I don’t think I can find the right words. Sam is a very lucky man. I hope he knows it.”

A mischievous grin curved Cheryl’s lips. “He does. I tell him every chance I get.”

Angie chuckled. “I’ll bet you do.”

Cheryl reached out and grasped her sister’s hands. “Have I ever thanked you?”

“For what?”

“For pushing me into going back to the ranch that night?”

Angie leaned close. “I might have made the suggestion, but I think the plan came from much higher up.”

“I think so, too.”

“I’ve never asked, but was it hard for you?”

“You mean facing the community and telling people who I am? Yes, and no. The day Sam and I first came to church here I was scared witless. But with his family around me, and God’s grace filling my heart, it turned
into a healing time. Becoming a Christian, accepting Christ as my Savior, has changed me more than I can say.

Over the past few months so many people have come up to me after church and talked about Mom. A lot of people felt they let her down. Spousal abuse wasn’t talked about back then. Things have changed. For the better.”

“Do you think they’ll accept Jake?”

“Yes, in time. The sheriff made it known that Jake was the one who solved the theft of Sam’s cattle. There will always be people with prejudices against an ex-con, but there are enough people here who believe he deserves another chance. With Walter Hardin as his outspoken supporter, Jake has a good shot at it.”

“And Doris? I noticed she wasn’t here?”

“Doris and I are trying to mend fences. That may take a while. She wants to shut herself away from the world. I know how that feels, but I haven’t given up on her. Listen to me, I sound like a rancher’s wife already. Mending fences.”

“I knew those New York roots weren’t as deep as you pretended.”

“I guess they weren’t.”

A knock sounded at the door and Angie went to open it. Jake stood on the other side. Cheryl had chosen him to walk her down the aisle. His guitar rested in the front pew. She wasn’t about to get married without his beautiful music as part of the ceremony. He looked at once handsome and uncomfortable in his rented tux.

He cleared his throat and pulled at the collar of his outfit with one finger. “Are you ready?”

Two little girls in matching floor-length lavender
dresses pushed in past his legs. “Come on, Cheryl. We’re ready,” they said together. Each one grabbed her hand and tugged.

“Daddy is so nervous.”

“I wish Bonkers could be here.”

“Don’t we look nice?”

“Did you see Aunt Becky’s baby?”

“He’s so cute. Grandma says—”

“—we might get a baby brother, too.”

“Maybe even twins, like us!”

Cheryl let herself be led from the room by the excited pair. At the doorway, she cast a wide-eyed look back at her sister. “What have I gotten myself into?”

Angie laughed softly. “Only God knows, honey. God only knows.”

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed
Love Thine Enemy
. I have always wanted to write a story set in the beautiful Flint Hills of eastern Kansas. My childhood home lies at the western border of the hills.

Nothing is more awe inspiring for me than to see the night sky glowing orange from the immense range fires and smell the distant smoke drifting on the wind. In the light of day, huge expanses of scorched ground look as if nothing will ever grow there again, yet in less than a week, new green grass can be seen where only ash existed.

The hardy bluestem grass can survive because its roots go deep into the soil, sometimes as much as five feet deep. I have often thought that we, as Christians, are like that grass. We, too, can survive the harsh tests of life if our faith is deeply rooted in God’s grace.

Blessings,