Wrong Husband Read online

  Jeremy broke free from her and ran over to the cell, calling out “Pa!”

  Owen’s face lit up and he eagerly ran over to the bars so he could hug Jeremy... Well, as much as he could with the bars between them.

  The tender moment brought tears to Jenny’s eyes. How many times had she seen fathers and their sons and wished Jeremy could have a pa that loved him too? Wiping her eyes, she turned to the sheriff and deputy. “Can we go into the cell? You can lock us all in if you want.” That might offer a forte of protection too, in case her brothers came to get her and Jeremy.

  The sheriff nodded. “I see no harm in that.”

  Irving led her to the cell and opened it so she and Jeremy could be with Owen. As he locked the door, he said, “Let the sheriff know when you’re ready to leave. I have some investigating to do around town.”

  When he turned to leave, Owen ran over to her and hugged her. “Oh Jenny. Thank you for coming back.”

  She held onto him, taking comfort in his embrace. “Owen, is there anything else you didn’t tell me?” She had to know. If she was going to stay married to him, she had to know everything. Then they could start with a clean slate.

  “Pa?” Jeremy tugged on his pants.

  He pulled away from her so he could pick Jeremy up. “I grew up in Baton Rogue, Louisiana. I had an uneventful childhood. My pa was a fisherman, so when I grew up, that’s what I became. I’m not a deputy, as you already know. I fish and then sell whatever I catch. My parents passed on early in my life. First my mother. Then my father. I went to live with my Aunt Rachel when I was fourteen. I spent most of my time fishing. Like I said, nothing eventful happened.”

  “Until you went to get your aunt’s money back,” Jenny said, not wishing to go into too much detail with her son right there. “But you got it.”

  “Yes. I won it from Big Roy in a round of games. And I took it to her. Then three days later, I got some bait to go fishing when Big Roy’s men came after me. They wanted the money back, but I couldn’t let them have it. It was Rachel’s. Well, they pulled out—” he glanced at Jeremy—“K-N-I-V-E-S and chased me down an alley.”

  Her eyes grew wide.

  “I never fought anybody a day in my life. I did have a K-N-I-F-E because I use it to gut fish. So I took it out to protect myself. They attacked and I panicked. It all happened so fast. I’m not even sure exactly what happened or in what order it did. I swung the you-know-what out in desperation, and it ended up in Mitch’s stomach. That’s how he D-I-E-D. Lance followed me out of the alley and accused me of K-I-L-L-I-N-G Mitch. Which I did, but I didn’t mean to.”

  “I understand. Go on.”

  “I panicked when I saw a lawman coming after me. I know it was dumb to run, but I wasn’t thinking straight. I was so scared. So I took my horse and headed north. Then Lance and Big Roy found me while I was taking a bath in the forest. I didn’t have time to go back for the horse or my clothes, so I ran until I came across Irving’s campsite. Except I didn’t know it was Irving’s. I would have asked for the clothes and horse, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. Big Roy and Lance were getting closer. I had to do something if I didn’t want to die.”

  “That’s when you grabbed Irving’s clothes and horse.”

  He nodded. “Irving went after Big Roy and Lance, and I rode off. I let the horse go in Nashville and got on a train until I arrived here. I was thinking of staying here when I saw the poster of me. Then I ran into the sheriff and was afraid he was going to arrest me. So when he saw me in Irving’s clothes and assumed I was Irving...I let him. He got new clothes for me, and before I knew it, he was taking me to the courthouse. I kept thinking I could slip out of town and go further out west.”

  “But then I came along needing a husband,” she inserted.

  “I know it was wrong. I thought of telling you, but from everything I heard, Irving was this incredible man who could do anything. And boy if he isn’t. I can’t compare to him. The man doesn’t even need a gun to track down outlaws.”

  She chuckled. “Neither do you. Not with that fishing rod of yours.”

  He grinned. “Maybe. But it does look ridiculous for a deputy to run around with a fishing rod.”

  She kissed him on the cheek. “But you managed to get the outlaws.”

  He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “So you forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing else I need to know?”

  “Just that I married you because you were too beautiful to pass up. But I do love you, Jenny. I want you, me and Jeremy to be a family.” He sighed and scanned the cell. “If I can get out of here.”

  She put her arms around him and Jeremy. “There’s another one on the way, Owen. That’s why I was sick earlier. It wasn’t because of what’s happening with you. I just didn’t put the pieces together until after I left with my family.”

  “Oh, Jenny. Really? That’s great!” He looked at Jeremy. “Now you can finally have someone to teach things like fishing to.” He glanced at her and winked. “Isaac’s too young to understand what he teaches him.”

  She giggled, more from the fact that Owen was happy with the news than with Jeremy wanting a brother or sister to teach.

  “Irving said that if I help him catch Big Roy, he’ll speak on my behalf to the judge. Then maybe I can get out or serve a lesser time. Thankfully, he’s not going to charge me with stealing his horse. Did you know they hang men for that?”

  She frowned. “Just what does Irving want you to do?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know yet.” He let go of her and set Jeremy down. “Sorry, buddy, but my arm is getting sore.”

  “Can I stay here?” Jeremy asked, excited.

  Jenny couldn’t believe her ears. “What?”

  “It’s a real cell!”

  “Your goal is to never be in here.”

  “But Pa is.”

  She rolled her eyes, exasperated.

  Owen patted him on the shoulder. “Your ma is right. It’s not good to be here. I lied to a lot of people and stole some clothes and a horse. That was wrong, and now I’m paying for it.” He smiled at her. “I sure am glad you came back.”

  “We’ll get through this.” She gave him another kiss.

  Someone cleared his throat.

  Startled, she stepped away from Owen, wondering if one of her brothers tracked her down. But it was the sheriff.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I have some questions to ask Owen,” the sheriff said.

  “No, I don’t mind.” She took Jeremy’s hand. “We’ll be by tomorrow with some comforts from home.”

  Owen nodded.

  Sheriff Meyer opened the door for her and Jeremy to leave. “I don’t think it’s as bad as it seems,” he told her. “Big Roy is notorious in the southern states. If we can get him, getting Owen off should be easy.”

  Relieved, she said, “I appreciate that, Sheriff.”

  Then she took Jeremy and left...and kept going until she was out of town and heading home. There was no way she cared to deal with her family until they calmed down enough to listen to reason, and hopefully, by the time they thought to go to her home, they’d be reasonable enough to talk to.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jenny heard Sally knock on the front door but hesitated to answer it. No one had been out to see her since the day they found out about Owen, probably because Mary managed to talk them into giving Jenny time to herself, so she didn’t know why Sally came out. She pushed the curtain aside in the parlor. Sally was alone. She exhaled. At least, the cavalry wasn’t coming out again.

  She quickly thought of a way to distract her sister from the matter at hand and opened the door while Sally was in mid-knock. “Oh good! I wanted to talk to you.” Jenny pulled her into the house and peered out the door. Good. Sally really was alone, just as she thought. She shut the door and turned to Jeremy. “Take your blocks and play upstairs. I have to talk to your aunt.”

  Jeremy obeyed and went up the steps.

  As
soon as he was in his room, Jenny led Sally into the kitchen and sat her down. “Would you like a snack?”

  “No thanks,” Sally said. “I came to talk to you.”

  “Yes, and I’m glad you did,” Jenny lied. She picked up a plate of cut up cheese and added a slice of bread to it. As long as she kept something in her stomach that she could manage to eat, she warded off the morning sickness. “How about a drink?”

  “No. I’m fine.”

  Jenny nodded and grabbed a cup to fill with a little water. Not too much. Just enough to help the food go down.

  “Jenny—”

  “How are things with Rick?”

  Sally looked startled. “What?”

  “Rick? Your husband. How are things with him?” She picked up the plate and cup and sat across from her sister.

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  “Oh, I know that his boss hired another judge part-time and got the clerk to work full-time. But is everything still going well between you two?”

  “Uh...yes. Actually, they are. In some ways, we’re like newlyweds.”

  Jenny caught the blush on her sister’s cheeks. She grinned. “So I take it undressing in front of him worked too?” She bit into a piece of cheese.

  She shrugged and stared at her hands. “It didn’t hurt.”

  “Good. Now you don’t have to worry about whether you’re desirable anymore.”

  “No, I don’t. It’s been wonderful.”

  Jenny caught the far off gleam in her eyes. “It sure is nice to see you happy again.”

  “Oh, I am. Why, do you believe he actually bought me flowers yesterday? I swear, Jenny, I feel like a school girl being courted all over again.”

  “I’m glad it was nothing serious.”

  “Me too. Now I...” She stopped and frowned at her. “Wait a minute. I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.”

  Jenny swallowed another piece of cheese. “What?”

  “You’re trying to avoid talking about Owen Russell.”

  “I am doing no such thing.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss her sister’s complaint and picked up the slice of bread. “I’m just curious as to the happiness of my favorite sister.”

  “I’m your only sister.”

  She shrugged. “You’re still my favorite.”

  Sally crossed her arms.

  Jenny took a small bite of the bread and waited to swallow it before she took a sip of water. There. Her stomach was finally settling down. “I just complimented you. This is the part where you thank me and say I’m your favorite sister too.”

  “What’s going on with Owen? You aren’t really staying with him, are you?”

  Jenny knew when she couldn’t avoid her sister’s badgering any longer, so she gave up trying. Giving a loud sigh, she said, “He didn’t kill Mitch.”

  “Maybe not, but he did pretend to be Irving Spencer.”

  “Who wasn’t able to get here in time for me to marry him. Clyde kept talking about October 1st as if he planned to take Jeremy on that day. At least with Owen nearby, Clyde backed off.”

  “Owen married you because he wanted to get into bed with you.”

  “That’s more than Clyde did.” She groaned. “Sure, Owen was wrong to lie, but honestly, if I was afraid of being hanged, I’d probably do the same thing. He’s only human. And for your information, he didn’t sleep with me right away. He waited until I was ready. Actually, I had to force the issue. So if he was a horrible person, don’t you think he’d have married me as Irving, had his way with me, and then headed on out? But he didn’t do that. He stuck around. He must have known Irving could come into town at any time, and even then, he stayed because he wanted to be with me and Jeremy.”

  Sally’s expression softened. “Maybe.”

  “Well, he’s not going anywhere now, is he?”

  “Because he’s in jail.”

  “No.” Jenny pushed her plate aside and looked pointedly at her sister. “He’s staying because he’s owning up to his wrongs, and he’ll be coming home to me and Jeremy. You’ll see when it happens.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  She groaned and put her hand to her forehead. When her siblings harassed her like this, she could feel a headache coming on. No wonder she was desperate to get into the boarding house when she lived with her parents.

  “I don’t mean to be hard on you, Jenny. I just worry about you.”

  “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” She rubbed her forehead. “If what you fear comes to pass, then I’ve proven I can take care of myself and my children, haven’t I?”

  Sally nodded. “I’m sorry, Jenny. You’re right.”

  She put her hand down and looked at her sister in surprise.

  “Is that unbelievable?”

  “Well...yes.”

  She smiled. “You’re the one who told me how to get my husband’s interest back. I suppose in some ways, you’re older than me. It’s time I started paying closer attention to what you say.”

  Jenny relaxed. “Stick around then. You might learn other things as well.”

  Sally laughed and picked up a piece of cheese. “Maybe. But I’ll always be your older sister.”

  “As long as you remember to also be a friend, I can deal with it.”

  “Deal.”

  Feeling much better, Jenny got more cheese.

  ***

  “Now shoot,” Irving said.

  Owen held the Colt .45 in his hands and focused on the target. He could do this. He pressed the trigger and almost fell back.

  Irving chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. “You need to toughen up.”

  Owen winced and rubbed his shoulder. The man didn’t know his own strength. “I did better. I hit the tree this time.”

  “You sure did.” Irving pointed to the large metal circle he’d hammered into the tree. “You just need to get the bullet twelve inches closer to it, and you’ll hit the edge of your target.”

  He sighed. There was no doubt about it. When it came to shooting a gun, he was pathetic.

  “You’ll learn. Just need practice.”

  “When did you learn to shoot?”

  “Oh, I was hitting targets when I was six. Woke up one morning and mastered it by the time the day was done.”

  Owen’s jaw dropped. And he’d been doing this for two days with little progress? Yep. He was really pathetic.

  “Some of us are born with the shooter’s eye. Others need time.”

  He knew that Irving meant to make him feel better but he didn’t. He felt like a failure.

  “Now, I let word out all over about you being in Omaha. That Big Roy should be coming to find you. ‘Course, how soon he comes depends on how far he is from here.” Irving smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Isn’t that great?”

  “Yeah...great,” Owen said, his voice void of enthusiasm. He wiped his forehead. Despite the chill in the air, he broke into a sweat.

  Big Roy...on his way to Omaha? Owen was beginning to get an inkling of what Jenny was going through with her pregnancy. He felt sick to his stomach. If it’d been anyone but Aunt Rachel, he wouldn’t have taken on a man with the reputation of Big Roy. I should have known he’d come after me for the money. Why did I assume he’d be a gentleman and let things go?

  Irving placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, accentuating his broad chest. “I got feelers out through town. As soon as anyone sees Big Roy, we’ll set the trap.” He smiled. “I can’t wait!”

  Owen rubbed his stomach. Yes, he definitely knew what Jenny was going through.

  “Anyway,” Irving began as he motioned to the horses, “we’ll bide our time. Patience will be to our advantage.”

  Patience wasn’t a problem for Owen. He could wait for the rest of his life if need be. He placed the gun back in the holster around his waist and went to his horse.

  “By the way, Meyer and I decided you can go home tonight.”

  His ears perked up. “I can?”

>   Irving nodded. “But don’t run off. If you do, I’ll have to put you back in the cell.”

  “I won’t.” Despite the fact that he was a sitting duck, he felt much better knowing he could be with Jenny and Jeremy that night. He missed them. They’d come to visit him every day, but it wasn’t the same as being at home. He eagerly hopped on the horse.

  “Be here tomorrow at sunrise. After we do more practice, I’ll teach you how to fight.”

  His eyes grew wide. “Fight? Isn’t that what a gun is for?”

  Irving looked amused. “If you lose your gun, you need these.” He clenched both hands into fists and held them up.

  Owen gulped. The man’s hands were almost as big as Owen’s face.

  “You might be weak, but you’re small. Probably quick on your feet. If you get stuck, run.”

  “Do you ever run?”

  He laughed. “No. But I don’t have to.”

  Of course not. The invincible Irving Spencer didn’t need to resort to scurrying off like a scared rabbit. Owen hated the fact that Irving was so competent at his job. He should have expected Irving to be that way, but seeing it for himself was almost as nauseating as knowing Big Roy was out there—lurking in the shadows and getting ready to pounce. Even so, Owen had to admit that he liked Irving. The man might be the size of a monster, but he also had enough compassion to go easy on him.

  Once they reached the town limits, Irving gave him a final warning about running off and then headed for the jailhouse. Owen felt a slight sting in his gut. He wasn’t a deputy anymore. Sighing, he glanced down at the spot where he had put the badge. For some reason, he felt naked without it.

  “Mister?”

  He turned his attention to the boy who had helped him at Guy’s place. “Hi, Amos.”

  “Is it true that you’re not Irving Spencer?” he asked, peering up at him.

  Owen sighed. This wasn’t fun. He knew the boy looked up to him—to Irving Spencer—as a hero, and he hated to dash the boy’s hopes. Taking a deep breath, he admitted, “Yes, it’s true. I’m really Owen Russell.”

  To his surprise, the boy broke into a wide grin. “Then it’s also true you’re on the run from a big-time outlaw?”