Louise M. - Cowboy Lawman's Christmas Reunion

“Well.” Susanna, always so cheerful, now looked at Justice. “Sheriff, you simply must come with us to the hotel for dinner so you and Evie can get reacquainted.”

“Uh, I have some paperwork—”

“Nonsense. You have to eat.” While Susanna continued reasoning with him, a wild sense of relief flooded Evangeline and almost brought on another, much different sort of fainting spell.

Meeting him at the train had only been a coincidence. Justice didn’t mean to arrest her after all. Perhaps he didn’t even know about her flight from Hugo.

He moved a few inches from her, his face a study in misery. “Susanna’s not going to let up until I say yes. Do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all.” She copied Susanna’s bright tone as much as her fatigue permitted. “That is, if you’ll agree to address me as Evangeline, as you once did.” He’d always claimed it was the most beautiful name he’d ever heard.

The ripple of his clenched jaw both thrilled and worried her. “I’ll join you if you insist.”

“Well...” Evangeline must set him free, since he didn’t want her company.

“Of course we insist.” Susanna stood. “Now, let’s leave so Charlie can go back to work.” She gave the telegraph operator a friendly wave. “Come along, children.” She reached out to Isabelle and Gerard, both of whom pulled back. “Aren’t you hungry?”

“Mama?” Isabelle sent Evangeline a questioning look.

Gerard merely scowled, nothing new for him. He’d been unreceptive to every suggestion she’d made since his father died, despite Lucius never giving either child a modicum of affection.

“Yes, of course.” Evangeline stood, swaying slightly before she regained her balance, and gripped each child by the hand. “Come along. I’m sure you’re as hungry as I am.” She smiled over her shoulder at Justice, whose face once again became a granite facade.

If he wasn’t here to arrest her, couldn’t he at least return a smile for old times’ sake?

What a foolish question. She must expect nothing from a man who’d refused to rescue her from a forced marriage to a man whom he knew to be cruel.

* * *

Justice trailed after the ladies and children as they made their way down the boardwalk toward the hotel. If it wouldn’t look like cowardice, he’d quietly change his course and return to his office. Or slip into Williams’s Café, a step ahead on the right. Too late. He’d already passed the door. Besides, a quick glance through the window showed all the café tables were occupied, and he didn’t see anyone he’d want to eat with in his current mood.

He glanced up at Evangeline’s back. She’d actually had the nerve to smile at him, although it had seemed sad rather than flirtatious. If she’d played the coquette, he’d have left right away, and none of Susanna’s cajoling would have stopped him. On the other hand, as much as he wanted to remain indifferent to Evangeline, he worried about her fainting. Susanna was right. Evangeline must be exhausted from her travels. She’d probably fainted in relief over arriving safely to her cousin’s care.

No, not true. She’d been all smiles and enthusiasm when greeting Susanna and Nate by the train. It was when she’d seen Justice that she’d wilted like a cactus flower in hot summer wind.

Admit it, Gareau. It felt good to hold her in your arms.

No, he must not allow such thoughts. While he couldn’t deny enjoying her feminine closeness and the scent of gardenias wafting from her hair, memories of eleven years of slowly receding pain shocked him back to reality. Just when he’d begun to consider looking for a wife, even praying the Lord would send him a companion to share his lonely evenings, Evangeline came along to remind him that giving a woman his heart brought nothing but misery. If he married, it would be merely for companionship, not for some foolish interest in love. Loving a woman only brought pain.

Nate and Doc Henshaw met them at the corner of Main Street and the southbound highway, and across the street from the Esperanza Arms. After introductions, they trooped into the hotel lobby, where Doc sat Evangeline down to check her pulse and heart.

“Because of the high altitude here in the San Luis Valley, many folks suffer lightheadedness for a while when they first arrive.” Doc tucked his stethoscope back into his black leather satchel. “Come see me if it persists beyond a few weeks. In the meantime, don’t rush into too much activity.” He eyed the two children. “You youngsters help your mother, understand?”

“Yes, sir.” The little girl, Isabelle, nodded solemnly and moved nearer Evangeline, putting a protective hand on her shoulder.

The boy, Gerard, scowled and shifted his eyes around like a cornered cougar. Justice’s lawman senses went on alert. Something wasn’t right with the boy, probably because he looked like his father, that scoundrel Lucius Benoit, who’d embezzled Justice’s father’s money and stolen Evangeline’s heart with his wealth. Justice would try to be fair, but the boy needed to be watched.

After pronouncing Evangeline well, Doc made his exit.

“Come on, now.” Susanna herded everyone toward the large hotel dining room. “Let’s eat. That should make Evie feel better.”

As elegantly appointed as the best New Orleans hotels Justice recalled from his youth, the Esperanza Arms boasted a talented French chef and an expert English pastry maker. He rarely ate here because he preferred the homier cooking at Williams’s Café. Still, it wasn’t good for a sheriff to show favoritism, so he made occasional visits, more to chat with the owners, Garrick and Rosamond Wakefield, than for the food. Rosamond was Nate Northam’s sister, and their whole clan had done much to build this community without trying to control the citizens, one reason Justice accepted the post of sheriff. True to his name, if there was anything he couldn’t tolerate, it was injustice, sleazy politics and men trying to control other men. Reminded of his past with Evangeline, he added something else to his list: people who didn’t keep their promises.

Seated at either end of the long table as though hosting one of their formal dinner parties, Nate and Susanna oversaw the ordering and serving of dinner. Justice sat beside the boy and across from Evangeline and her daughter. From there he could observe the others, a habit he’d picked up in the Texas Rangers. A lawman learned a lot about folks by watching and listening. Yet, as much as he tried to remain indifferent, when Susanna questioned her cousin about various topics, he listened even more intently. Maybe he was trying to recapture memories of their happy childhood in New Orleans, when their fathers had been partners in a coffee import business, along with Lucius Benoit. More likely, against all that made sense in his lawman’s mind, he wanted to know what Evangeline had been doing these past eleven years and what had happened to her scoundrel husband, who’d stolen her heart all those years ago or, more likely, bought it with his money.

* * *

“Oh, it’s not terribly interesting.” Evangeline gave Susanna a meaningful look, praying she’d understand. When her cousin returned a blank stare, Evangeline tilted her head toward Isabelle, then Gerard and blinked her right eye and then her left, their signal for “later.”

“Oh.” Susanna sat back. “Well, honey, please let me say how sorry I am for your loss. As my daddy can tell you, widowhood is so difficult, especially when you’ve had a good marriage.” She gave a sad smile to each of the children. “I’m sure you miss your papa.”

While seven-year-old Isabelle stared down at her plate and pushed the food around with her fork, Gerard snorted before shoveling a large bite of potatoes into his mouth. Evangeline glared at him across the table until she noticed how intently Justice was watching her.