but with what had happened in her family. It was so horrible that she never spoke of it. Only a few people in Jacobsville knew. Her father was a good man, a kind man, who was wonderful to his daughter. But her grandfather had been a different story. He’d been notorious, in fact, and the story was so gruesome that it was fodder for the tabloids for the better part of a month.
None of that was Bernie’s fault. She’d only been involved because he was part of her family, but it stung just the same. She felt dirty because of it. There had been survivors who were outraged. Her father had been targeted by one. Only the quick arrival of the sheriff’s department had saved Bernie and her dad, because the man had been armed. She couldn’t even blame him. The grief must have been horrible. But her father was no more responsible for it than Bernie was. It was just that the survivors couldn’t get to the people responsible, so they went after the people who were left.
That had eventually blown over. Tempers cooled, people went back to church and remembered that part of their religious faith was the very difficult tenet of forgiveness for even the most horrible crimes. Bernie and her dad moved from Floresville back to Jacobsville, and distance helped. But that didn’t mean that Bernie might not be a target in the future from some other relative who was frustrated by not having a means of vengeance.
She’d have to tell Mikey that. She’d also have to make him understand about her illness. There was no cure for rheumatoid arthritis. There were many treatments, most of which worked, but the most useful were beyond Bernie’s pocket. Even with them, she would still have flares, days when she couldn’t work at all. And because the drugs required worked at lowering her immune system to fight the RA, she was more disposed to illness than healthy people. She had bad lungs and often had respiratory infections. Mikey had to understand that just an occasional flare was the least of her health issues.
If he still wanted her after all that, well, it would make him a man in a million. Her family’s notoriety was going to make things more complicated.
But it might work out, she told herself. They might actually be able to make it work, if they could keep Jessie at bay. She was an odd sort of person, very narcissistic and pretty horrible. She didn’t feel compassion and she had an acid tongue. What in the world was she doing in a small town like Jacobsville when she was obviously more suited to big cities? It was a puzzle.
* * *
There was a cold rain on Friday afternoon just as Bernie was getting ready to go home. She hadn’t worn a raincoat or brought an umbrella, and it was pouring outside. Even in south Texas, it could get pretty cold in autumn.
“Let me drop you off at your boardinghouse, Bernie,” Sari offered. “You’ll get soaked going home and you’ll be sick.”
“Yes, you have to stay well or Mikey won’t be able to take you anyplace, will he, sweetie?” Jessie purred as she passed them outside, her umbrella raised.
“One day,” Sari said with venom, and glared at the other woman.
Jessie made a harrumphing sound in her throat and went on down the street to where her car was parked. Strangely, it was an expensive foreign one. How could she afford that on what she made as a stenographer and receptionist for the local DA, Sari wondered.
“You should have a car,” Sari chided gently as the limousine driver started off down the street with his two passengers in back.
“They break down,” Bernie said with a smile. “I can’t afford to run one. And I can mostly walk to work, except when I’m having flares. Then I get a cab.”
“You can always ride with me,” Sari said. “Anytime you need to.”
“Thanks,” Bernie said. “But I do okay.”
Sari laughed and shook her head. “Honestly, you’re the hardest person to do anything for.”
“I guess so. Sorry.”
“It’s not a bad trait. Jessie would do anything for someone with money,” she added harshly. “That woman makes my blood boil.”
“Mikey can’t stand her,” Bernie said with a wicked little smile.
Sari laughed. “So he said. I guess he’s seen that sort so much in his life that he hasn’t got any interest in them anymore.”
“He said that he was a bad man,” Bernie mentioned.
“Some bad, some