Scandal at the Cahill Saloon - By Carol Arens Page 0,67
released her. She backed up against the wall.
“Maybe I owe you that…as much as I owe Arden her justice.” He walked to the back door and paused with the knob in his hand. “All right…for now. But I’ll be moving back into the house.”
“You will not! We’re getting divorced.”
Stubborn was the nicest thing she could say about him. Stubborn and perceptive. He had a way of looking too hard at her, as though he could see inside her soul. She didn’t want him there.
“Here’s something I’ve noticed about you Cahills,” he said. “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. I’m coming home.”
“I won’t forgive you and I won’t let you in my house.”
Why, the nerve of the man, shrugging his shoulders before he went back inside the saloon. He left the door standing wide open behind him.
Curse it! She certainly would hate him…if she could.
Leanna shivered even though the air being pressed between the weighty clouds and the earth was warm.
Out there in the night was a man who would do a child harm. A man whose secrets she had to discover before he had the chance to act.
A new gown wouldn’t heal Leanna’s pain, but it might take the edge off for a moment.
For a precious hour this morning, she had time to herself. With Cabe tucked safely away at the saloon and all the ladies watching him, she felt comfortable enough to venture out. No doubt her infernal, soon-to-be former husband was there, as well.
She tried to enjoy the stroll to Rosa’s Boutique but the air was humid and stifling. The cloying warmth made her want to gag.
Walking past the bakery didn’t help. What used to smell divine now made her stomach heave.
And it wasn’t only the baked goods making her queasy. Doubts had begun to flip her belly. Sympathy for Cleve of all things!
He’d lost his sister. Leanna had lost her friend. Cleve wanted to raise his nephew, his only flesh and blood. Any decent person would want the same.
But in the end, a decent person would have told her the truth right off, not have taken her heart only to break it.
Several more steps brought her to Rosa’s front door, out of the range of forbidden aromas, but not grievous thoughts.
In the instant she would have gone into the boutique two women came out of the general store, only thirty feet away—Minnie and Ellie.
“Something’s not right,” Minnie declared, and sniffed the air with her pert nose. “Everyone says the weather is bound to turn foul in a way we’ve never seen. Mark my words, Ellie.”
“Mother, you make too much of it.” Ellie turned and spotted Leanna. “Annie!”
“Ellie Jenkins, you will not speak with that woman. You heard what Mr. Stokes said.” Minnie latched on to Ellie’s sleeve. “She’s divorcing her husband. I won’t have your reputation tarnished.”
“If our Annie is divorcing her husband I’m sure there is a very good reason for it.”
Ellie yanked free of her mother and rushed toward the boutique. She wrapped Leanna in a great hug and rocked her back and forth.
“I couldn’t be happier to see you,” her friend whispered.
The sound of Ellie’s voice made years fall away. The pair of them were young girls again, laughing at life and full of hope. Mama still waited on the front porch with open arms. The spotless reputation that made her the darling of one and all remained untarnished. Broken women didn’t call out in her dreams for help. The love of her life hadn’t betrayed her.
Tears stung her eyes. Her lungs ached with the effort to hold them in. She might have let them flow freely had Minnie not been glaring daggers at her daughter’s back.
“No matter what, I’m on your side,” Ellie murmured in her ear. “I’ll defend you to anyone, Annie. I don’t care what Mother has to say about it.”
“That means everything to me, especially now.” She hugged Ellie’s slender shoulders, clinging to the past for all she was worth, and then she let go. “Your mother is right, though. You have your future to think about. You’ll want to marry a solid, respectable man soon. That can’t happen if you’re seen with me.”
“Oh, piffle, Leanna!”
Ellie kissed her cheek, then returned to her mother, to all appearances the obedient daughter she had always been. Clearly, though, Ellie had begun to stretch her wings.
Minnie would soon see a side of her daughter that she wouldn’t approve of.
She watched Minnie and Ellie walk away and prayed that the price