And if he did, would she be able to forget the horror of her sister’s death and embrace the hope a future with Jake would bring?
Did she dare try?
Was it worth the risk? The risk of her heart?
* * *
Jake splashed water on his face and stared in the chipped mirror over the washbasin, droplets dripping off his chin. What did Livy want from him? She’d enjoyed his kisses. No, she’d not only enjoyed them, she’d responded, giving as good as she got.
Then why did she insist she wanted to be friends and nothing more? What made her run like a scared rabbit every time she felt ensnared by the possibility of a relationship with him? Her past? What was she hiding?
He toweled his face, rubbing hard. He hadn’t been searching for love, hadn’t even thought about it. The last two years since his father’s death had been chaotic enough without adding a woman to the mix. His duties as deputy and riding out to the farm to help his ma with the chores barely left time to eat, let alone sleep.
Why did he even want to see more of Livy?
Because the thought of not seeing her turned his stomach into knots.
Thoughts of her filled his every waking moment. He saw her eyes in the blue ribbons bedecking the hats in the millinery shop, her reddish-brown curls in the sunset, heard her laughter in the birds’ singing.
And God help him, since Susie had presented the family with a brand-spanking-new baby boy, he’d even started thinking about a family of his own.
With Livy O’Brien smack-dab in the center of it.
Chapter Fifteen
Midafternoon, Gibbons leaned against a post in Ed McIver’s blacksmith shop, his horse dozing while the blacksmith shaped a pair of horseshoes. “Heard anything else from the sheriff about those street kids running loose?”
“Nope.” The blacksmith pounded the horseshoe, the sound of metal striking metal ringing throughout the open area of the shop.
“Don’t look like they’re doing much to find them.”
“You heard ’em in that meeting. Kinda hard to catch them if they don’t want to be found.”
“If Jake would spend more time doing his job instead of out at the family farm and making eyes at that girl from the orphanage, he’d get a lot more work done.”
“You think he’s sweet on her?”
“As sweet as honey.” Gibbons chewed on his cigar. “I just don’t think he’s doing much to find those kids.”
“You might be right about that.” Ed dropped the horseshoe into a bucket of water. The hot metal hissed and steam rose from the bucket.
Half an hour later, Gibbons rode away from the blacksmith shop, satisfied with the morning’s work. He’d planted seeds of doubt in Ed’s mind. With a little prodding, the hotheaded blacksmith could be depended on to do the rest.
* * *
The school board gathered at McIver’s Mercantile after closing time on Wednesday night. Sheriff Carter, Jake, Jesse Tatum, Mac MacKinnion, and Sam McIver sat around the potbellied stove, nursing hot cups of coffee strong enough to pass for liquid coal.
Jake eyed the rest of the men, his stomach growling. He’d missed the noon meal and could already taste the chicken and dumplings Miss Nellie’d promised him for supper. He scowled. If MacKinnion had put a stop to this nonsense when it started, there wouldn’t have been any need for discussion. And they could have saved Livy and Mrs. Brooks a lot of worry.
Livy.
Just the thought of her energized him, made him want to go out and conquer the world and lay it at her feet. Or at the very least sample the taste of her lips once again. He tapped his foot, impatient for Sam to get on with it. If this meeting went as planned, he might skip supper and stop by the orphanage instead.
Sam brought the meeting to order. “We all know why we’re here. Tom, you want to tell us what happened?”
Sheriff Carter stood. “Well, it was like this. Two of the boys from the orphanage got in a fight with Mac’s grandson, Billy. Seeing as how Billy is Lavinia’s nephew, she kicked all the orphans out of school.”
“Now hold on a minute.” Mac’s ruddy face turned as red as the glow from the coals in the stove. “The fact that Billy is Lavinia’s nephew didn’t have a thing to do with her turning those orphans out of school.”