Authors: Ruth Ann Nordin
right there, Lou Edwards,” Owen said.
Joel looked up and saw his brother-in-law, surprised Owen
had gone from the novice deputy who had to use a fishing
pole to get criminals to one who knew what he was doing
with a gun.
“Let go of the gun,” Owen ordered, leaving no room for
argument in his tone.
Lou glared at Joel for a moment before he obeyed.
Owen retrieved the gun and motioned for the men to stand
up. Joel gladly did, brushing the dirt and hay off his pants.
Though everything turned out alright, he realized he was
trembling. He’d never been close to being kil ed before,
and getting into skirmishes wasn’t his thing. After this
ordeal, he decided he wouldn’t participate in brawls ever
again, if he could help it. He certainly hadn’t asked for this
one!
“You’l be coming with me,” Owen said. “You alright, Joel?”
“I’m fine.” Remembering Sep, Joel went over to him and
untied him and undid the gag around his mouth. “I can take
care of that bul et wound. It’l sting, but it won’t kil you.” Joel
helped Sep up and led him over to Owen who was securing
the handcuffs on Lou. “Sep’s got a bul et wound I need to
tend to. Can I wait to tel you what happened?”
Owen glanced at Sep with a concerned look on his face. “Is
he going to be alright?”
“Lou got him in the arm. He’l be fine, but I don’t want to wait
to take care of him,” Joel replied.
“You can come to the jailhouse tomorrow,” Owen said.
As Owen directed Lou to head out of the barn, Sep cleared
his throat. “I have something to say, if I may?”
Stopping, Owen and Lou turned back to look at him.
Holding his arm, Sep winced. “I was recal ing some things
Harvey used to say. I didn’t understand why he thought it
was funny at the time, but I think I do now. He’d say, ‘The
mil er’s daughter had Rumplestiltskin spin gold three times,
but I got Nora to sleep on mine.’”
Joel blinked. “The gold is in Nora’s mattress?”
“I knew it was in the house,” Lou muttered.
“Let’s check it out,” Owen said.
Owen motioned for Lou to walk in front of them, and Lou led
the way to the house, shoulders slumped. Joel released his
breath, glad his racing heart was final y slowing down. Next
to him, Sep, stil favoring his arm, seemed equal y relieved
the whole ordeal was over.
“I wouldn’t want your job,” Joel told Owen as they neared the
house. “There’s too much anxiety involved.”
Owen’s eyebrows rose and he chuckled. “This coming from
someone who’s assisted the doctor in life or death
surgeries?”
“Wel , no one points a gun at me while I do that.” They went
up the porch steps, and Joel turned to Owen. “It might be
best if Lou stays out here. I don’t want to upset April by
bringing him into the house.”
Owen nodded. “We’l wait here.”
Joel opened the kitchen door and led Sep into the house
where April was placing the sandwiches next to the bowls
on the table. Looking up from the plates, her eyes grew
on the table. Looking up from the plates, her eyes grew
wide and she let in a sharp intake of breath. Nora stopped
playing with her dol and stared at Sep.
“It’s alright,” Joel quickly assured April as he led Sep to one
of the chairs and helped him out of his coat.
April rushed over to her brother and lifted the sleeve of his
shirt, making Sep wince. “How bad is it?” she asked Joel
while she inspected the bloody gash on his forearm.
“It looks like the bul et skimmed his skin,” Joel said, gently
moving Sep’s arm. “If your arms hadn’t been tied behind
your back, you might not have been so lucky,” he told Sep
who was gritting his teeth in pain.
She gasped. “A bul et? What happened?”
“It’s a long story, but Lou shot him. I’l tel you everything
later. Right now, Owen’s outside with Lou, and I have to
check Nora’s mattress. We think Harvey hid the gold in
there.”
“Nora’s mattress?” she asked.
“Have you noticed if it’s heavier than it should be?”
“I haven’t moved it, so I don’t know.”
If they had moved Nora to the third bedroom already, they
would have noticed if the mattress was heavy, but that was
a moot point. Patting the smal of her back, he said, “I’m
going to check on it. In the meantime, press a clean cloth to
Sep’s wound to soak up the blood. I’l be back in a moment
to tend to him.”
As she went to retrieve a clean towel, Joel hurried up the
stairs to his bedroom where he pushed aside the blanket.
He picked the mattress up from the crib and noted how
heavy it was. “There’s something in here, alright.”
He dumped the mattress on his bed and turned it over. He
separated the sheets that surrounded a bunch of feathers
and dug inside it until he felt cool coins. Pul ing out a couple
of the coins, he inspected them in the moonlight. Sure
enough, they were gold.
He slipped them back into the mattress and carried it
downstairs. On his way out the kitchen door, Joel cal ed out,
“I’l pad Nora’s crib with blankets tonight.”
April looked up from where she placed the towel against
Sep’s wound, but he left before she could respond. He was
glad to get rid of Lou. It made sense that Lou had to be
watching them at some point since he knew about the safe,
but he also liked to think most of the time he’d been living
out here, Lou had been somewhere else healing from the
grazing bul et wound Sep had given him. Even something
that scratched the surface needed time to heal. Comforted
by this reasoning and deciding he was better off not asking
Lou for details, he waited until Owen had Lou secured on
his horse before going over to him.
Once Owen was on his horse, Joel handed the mattress to
him. “Thanks, Owen.”
Owen smiled. “I’m just glad no one got seriously hurt. It
doesn’t always end wel .”
Joel waited until Owen and Lou left before he returned to
the house to take care of Sep.
***
The evening summer breeze wafted through the open
window in the third bedroom as April rubbed Nora’s back.
Nora’s eyes grew heavy. Shortly, she’d be asleep. April
scanned the light green room with the yel ow curtains that
blew gently in the breeze. It’d be comfortable in here
tonight. There were times when it was stil hard to enter the
room, but each day got easier and the cheerful look of it
helped a lot toward that end.
Turning her eyes back to the smal child’s bed, she smiled
at her daughter who had drifted off to sleep. In January,
Nora would have a little brother or sister who would sleep in
the crib waiting in this room. She sighed and brushed the
girl’s curls from her eyes. It sure didn’t take long for her
sweet baby girl to grow into a smal child. Soon enough,
she’d be too big for the bed and they’d have to move her
into a larger one.
The sound of footsteps made her look up, and her lips
turned upward as Joel softly walked into the room. “How’s
Mrs. Peabody?” she whispered.
He knelt beside her and kissed her cheek. “She’l be fine
as long as she stays off her ankle for a few weeks.”
“That’s easier said than done for a mother with three
children.”
“Thankful y, her sister is helping her out.”
She nodded and stood up. “Nora missed having you here
to tuck her in. I had to promise her you’d be here in the
morning when she woke up.”
He grinned and patted Nora’s back. “It’s nice to be
missed.”
Giggling, April wrapped her arms around his neck and
kissed his cheek. “I missed you, too.”
With a sly look in her direction, he asked, “Yeah?”
“Yep.”
He lifted her in his arms. “Wel then, I’l have to make
coming home worth your while.”
“Don’t you mean ‘my’ while?”
“That’s what I said,” he teased.
Snuggling in his arms as he carried her to their room, she
giggled again. He took her to bed, and indeed made it
worth her while to have him home before he held her in his
arms. And she slept straight through the night, safe and
sound.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Shotgun Groom - Smashwords Edition
Dedicated to April Mitchel .
Other Books by Ruth Ann
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-Two