The Outlaw Takes a Bride (32 page)

“What do we do now?” Sally sat on the wagon seat, looking down at Johnny. The sheriff’s office was empty, and a placard on the door said, I
F
Y
OU
N
EED
H
ELP
, S
EE
T
HAD
B
OLLINGER
.

“Bollinger’s the owner at the feed store. Could be he’s a deputy or something.” Johnny climbed up beside her and took the reins. “Go, Reckless.” The horse stepped out, and they drove down the street until they reached the sprawling feed store, near the grain elevators. “Stay here.” Johnny hopped down and went inside.

He was back a couple of minutes later and climbed up beside her. “Jackson’s off looking for the outlaw gang. They raided a rice plantation yesterday and stole some stock and guns. Shot up the owner and his foreman.”

“The same ones who killed Mark?” Sally asked.

“Probably. No telling when he’ll be back.” Johnny clenched his fists and stared off toward the river.

“You wish you were with him.”

“I wouldn’t mind hunting them down.” He smiled bitterly. “Jackson probably wouldn’t let me go, since I came to turn myself in.”

She patted his arm gently, and he gazed at her.

“What now?” he asked.

“Can we visit Pastor Lewis?”

“You want to tell him, even though we can’t find the sheriff?”

She hesitated. Her experience with ministers wasn’t limited to the Reverend Mr. Winters, and she wanted to believe that Pastor Lewis would guard their privacy. “I think he’ll keep it a secret if we want him to. Do we?”

Johnny sighed. “Can’t forever, but…well, it’d probably be best until we see what Jackson has to say. I reckon we can ask Pastor Lewis to keep it quiet for now.”

He drove toward the church and pulled up before the parsonage. “Maybe I should put Reckless in the church sheds.”

“Surely it won’t take that long.”

He nodded and climbed down. Sally waited while he secured the horse to the hitching rail, praying silently.

Lord, I love my husband. Please don’t take him away from me
.

Myra Lewis opened the door to them and beckoned them inside, smiling. “Good morning, folks! How nice to see you.”

“We wondered if the pastor’s busy,” Sally said. Johnny seemed tongue-tied, standing beside her with his hat in his hands.

“I’m sure he’s not too busy to see you. Come on in.” Myra led them into the parlor, where Pastor Lewis hunched over his desk. He turned around as they entered. When he saw who had come calling, he stood.

“Hello, Mrs. Paynter. Mark.” He shook both their hands.

Johnny threw Sally a panicky glance.

Sally took a deep breath. “Sir, we have a matter of some delicacy to discuss with you.”

“Certainly. Sit down, won’t you? Myra, perhaps some coffee in about fifteen minutes?”

“Yes, of course.” Myra smiled at Sally and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Some difference from Mr. Winters’s house
, Sally thought. Effie would insist on staying to hear the conversation. Her esteem for both Lewises rose a notch.

She settled on the sofa, and Johnny plunked down beside her, still worrying his hat.

“Now, how may I help you?” Mr. Lewis asked, sinking into an upholstered chair opposite Johnny.

Sally waited for her husband to speak. She didn’t want to usurp his place if he wished to be the one telling the tale. In fact, she hoped he would take on the task. It was his story to tell.

Johnny looked at her again, shifted in his seat, and cleared his throat. “Well, sir…”

Mr. Lewis waited a couple of seconds then leaned toward him slightly. “Yes, Mark?”

“See, that’s the thing of it,” Johnny said. “I’m not really Mark.”

The pastor sat unmoving for perhaps five seconds then said,

“What?”

“Yes, sir. I’m Johnny, Mark’s brother.”

“Oh. Perhaps you could clarify that for me.”

“I’ll try. I reckon it started when I was punching cows up in Colorado, and my brother, Mark, was down here. I didn’t know he was corresponding with Sally here.” Johnny continued with his tale, and when he had finished with his confrontation of Cam and his confession to Sally, they all sat in silence.

A soft knock came on the parlor door, and the pastor called, “Come in, my dear.” As he rose and took the tray from his wife, he smiled apologetically. “I’d ask you to join us, Myra, but the Paynters have a dilemma I don’t feel free to share with you yet. I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right,” Myra said, giving Sally a reassuring smile. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything else.”

Sally noted that she had set out only three cups on the tray with the coffeepot, cream pitcher, sugar bowl, and plate of small raisin cookies. Apparently Myra didn’t make the assumption that she would be included in her husband’s business conferences.

“If you’d like Mrs. Lewis to be here,” she began, but the pastor shook his head.

“When we’ve finished, if you feel comfortable with it, I’ll share our discussion with Myra, but with something this…unusual…I think it may be best to have utmost privacy until you’ve decided what you are going to do.”

“Thank you,” Sally said.

“Yes, sir,” Johnny said softly. “We do appreciate that.”

Myra smiled again and backed out of the room, shutting the door.

“Well, now. Would you care to pour, Mrs. Paynter?”

“I’d be glad to,” Sally said, “but while I do so, maybe you can tell us if I’m really Mrs. Paynter.”

Pastor Lewis frowned. “Oh, I see.”

“That’s one of our main concerns,” Sally said.

Johnny leaned forward and held out a hand toward the minister, as if reaching for assurance. “See, when we came to you for the wedding, remember I asked you to say my name as Mark John Paynter?”

“I do recall that.”

Johnny nodded. “That’s because I figured I couldn’t marry Sally using Mark’s name. Now, his middle name was Daniel, but I thought maybe if you said my name in there, before Paynter, then it would make it legal.”

Mr. Lewis sat back and drummed his fingers lightly on the arms of his chair. “I see. Very clever of you.”

“So,” Sally said. “We really hope it’s good and legal. Is it… ?”

Lewis eyed her closely. “Mrs.—Sally. You say you hope it’s legal. Does that mean you wish to remain married to this man, even though he deceived you about his identity?”

Sally squared her shoulders. “Yes, sir, I do. I have feelings for him, and I believe he has repented of his lying.”

“I have,” Johnny said, almost inaudibly.

Sally looked over at him. He looked like an overwrought little boy, about to burst into tears of remorse.

“I didn’t want to lie, sir, and I surely didn’t want to hurt Sally. I didn’t know what to do, and Cam…” Johnny sat up straighter. “Well, I won’t blame him. I knew it was wrong to lie to Sally. And to you. I kept thinking about Ananias and Sapphira and how they tried to lie to God. But if I didn’t let her think I was Mark, I’d have to tell her he was dead, and it had been a few days by then. I’d have to tell the law, and Cam was dead certain Jackson would arrest me and send me back to Colorado to be hung. That, or he’d accuse me of killing Mark.” He huffed out a breath and let his shoulders sag. “But I’m going to tell him anyway, as soon as he gets back.”

“We went to the sheriff’s office first,” Sally said. “John wishes to turn himself in.”

“I’ll do whatever Jackson tells me,” Johnny added. “I didn’t kill anyone, though.”

The pastor made no comment on this but nodded at Sally. “Let’s have that coffee, shall we?”

While she poured the three cups full, Pastor Lewis rose and went to his desk. He opened a drawer and took out a small book and came back, flipping the pages.

“Here we are. You’re correct, Mr. Paynter, about the name. On the marriage certificate I sent to the capital, I wrote Mark John Paynter.” He closed the book and picked up his coffee cup. “I could write to the registrar and claim an honest mistake, which it was, on my part. They would correct the record there.”

“And would that make it legal?” Sally asked.

“Oh, I believe the union is legal now.” Lewis took a sip of his coffee. “Come, drink it before it gets cold.”

Johnny and Sally both reached for their cups. The coffee was strong and a little bitter, but Sally didn’t add sugar. This moment was sweet enough.

“Of course, I can’t help you with the other matters, but I believe we can lay the marriage question to rest.” The pastor put his cup down and smiled at them. “If you have any doubts, you could repeat your vows today.”

The thought almost stole Sally’s breath away. She looked sidelong at Johnny. He was gazing at her, his face transfigured into hope, with just a tinge of anxiety about his eyes.

“I’d like that,” she said.

Johnny grinned. “Yes, sir. Me, too.” He thunked his cup down on the table.

“Then please join hands,” Mr. Lewis said.

Johnny’s grip was strong and sure this time. Sally couldn’t help thinking about that first time. If she had known then what she knew now… He was right. She would no doubt have told the authorities and left town.

Mr. Lewis stood. “I don’t think we need a witness this time, but if you’d like, I could call Myra in.”

“Please do,” Sally said. Belatedly, she arched her eyebrows at Johnny.

“Sure. Why not?” Johnny said.

The pastor went to the door and opened it. “Oh, Myra! Could you join us for a minute, please?”

When his wife entered the parlor, Mr. Lewis smiled at her. “My dear, Mr. and Mrs. Paynter wish to renew their wedding vows. Would you like to witness the occasion?”

Myra smiled as if nothing would please her more. “What a lovely start to the day.”

T
he ride home was quiet and about as sweet an hour as a man could want. As soon as they were outside the town limits, Sally scooted over close to Johnny and laid her head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm around her and pulled her even closer. It felt good. It felt right.

As they passed the Caxtons’ ranch, they could see Mrs. Caxton out hanging laundry on the clothesline. Johnny gave a neighborly wave, and Sally sat up straight and proper for a few minutes. But she cuddled right down again as soon as they were out of sight.

“I love you, Johnny,” she said.

His chest felt like it was outgrowing his shirt. She looked up at him expectantly, and he nodded. “Love you, too.” There. He’d said it. She knew who he was, and she loved him. He guessed he could do anything for her. Mark would have said it, loud and often. Maybe it wasn’t too late to learn some things from his brother.

“Thanks for marryin’ me again,” he said. It came out a little gruffly, but she flung herself practically into his lap. Johnny let Reckless pick his own way for a hundred yards or so, while he kissed her good and proper. He was starting to think this marriage business wasn’t so terrifying after all, once you did it right.

After a minute, he realized the horse had stopped and was grabbing mouthfuls of grass at the edge of the road.

“Hey, you!” He straightened out the reins and clucked. Reckless set out again at a lazy jog.

“You could have sent me back to St. Louis,” Sally said.

“Why would I do that?”

“I know you didn’t want to marry me the first time.”

He sneaked a sideways glance at her. “Did you really know it then?”

“I suspected, but you kept saying everything was all right. And you did take me to the preacher, and you had a ring, and…”

He shrugged. “Once I saw there was no way out of it—”

“Oh, you!” She pounded his arm with her fists, but if she’d have been serious, she’d have hurt him. She was like a kitten playing with a wad of paper.

He laughed and hauled her in so tight a body couldn’t have peeled her off him with a crowbar.

The lane to the ranch came in sight.

“What do you fancy to name this place?” Sally asked.

“What, the ranch?”

“Yes. Mark said in one of his letters he didn’t have a name for it yet.”

Johnny shrugged. “His brand is an MP.”

“His initials.”

“Yup.”

“Maybe we should call it something with those letters. Then we wouldn’t have to change the brand.”

“Wouldn’t have to change it anyhow,” Johnny said. What a headache that would be. He didn’t have to guide Reckless off the main road. They were close to home, and the chestnut knew it.

“I’ll fix us some dinner,” Sally said.

Johnny looked up at the sun. “I reckon the train’s leaving about now. I’m glad you’re not on it.”

“Me, too.”

He leaned in and kissed her again. “Sally, I love you. I don’t know when I knew it, but it’s been a while, and I felt so terrible to be hurting you.”

“Hush, now. That’s done with. But I understand now why you acted the way you did.” Her face went deep pink. “I thank you, Johnny. I know now it wasn’t because you didn’t love me.” She touched his cheek and then gathered her skirts to climb down from the wagon.

When he had turned the horse out, he went inside. She had something simmering on the stove already. For the first time, he felt this was his home, and he had a right to be here.