The Redemption Of Jake Scully

“Admirable?” Mr. Parker shrugged his narrow shoulders. “For a woman your age, I suppose it is, but Lacey—”

Sadie turned her back on the storekeeper, dismissing him with a roll of her eyes that said she had heard it all before. Addressing Lacey directly, she said, “I couldn’t help hearing your conversation, and I’m thinking it might be lucky for both of us that I happened to come in here to get some things I ran out of in the restaurant this morning. The fact is, I’m going to be shorthanded at the restaurant soon. Millie—you know, the redhead with all the freckles—she’s leaving to get married at the end of the week. I’m going to be needing somebody who’s looking for good, honest work.”

Lacey’s heart jumped a beat.

Sadie searched her expression. “It’s not easy work, mind you. There’s a lot of running involved when things get busy.”

“I’m not afraid of hard work.”

Appearing pleased at her response, Sadie replied, “Well then, as far as I’m concerned, you’re hired. The restaurant is busiest in the early morning and during the supper hours. I have a woman who helps at night, so I’ll try you out in the morning. If you’re agreeable, you can start at the end of the week when Millie leaves. I’ll pay you what I was paying her.” Sadie winked. “I’ll be expecting to get more work out of you, though, because Millie’s mind hasn’t been on her job lately.”

“That’s fine with me.” Lacey added, “And…thank you.”

Lacey watched as Sadie walked to the back of the store to scout out her purchases. Her heart was pounding. She had a position and she’d start at the end of the week! She’d have money to pay for her board at the boarding house and she—

Lacey’s high spirits plummeted as she bid the disapproving storekeeper goodbye and started back toward the Gold Nugget with the prospect of moving from the Gold Nugget suddenly looming closer. Also plaguing her was the prospect of informing Scully that she had agreed to take a job. He’d be angry, but she’d remind him that she’d be able to take the room at Mrs. McInnes’s sooner than she thought. That would please him. Lacey pondered that thought. But how would she feel about moving to the boarding house? Mature…responsible…finally self-supporting?

Lonely.

She’d had enough of loneliness. She had thought her loneliness had come to an end when she came home and Scully had welcomed her with open arms.

It looked as if she was wrong.

Scully looked up at a knock on his office door. The knock was tentative…uncertain. It could be no one else.

“Come in, Lacey.”

“How did you know it was me?”

Lacey stood framed in the doorway, platinum hair piled casually atop her head, intense blue eyes putting to shame the pale blue of her dress, delicate features composed in a half smile. A lovelier picture than Scully had ever expected would be his, even temporarily. The thought was disconcerting. He refrained from answering her question. Instead, he stood up, reached for his hat and said, “Come on with me. I have something to show you.”

Around the desk in a moment, Scully took Lacey’s arm. She hesitated momentarily, then said, “I suppose we can talk later.”

Talk. Talk meant continuing the same argument they’d had earlier that morning. He’d had enough of it for the day.

He drew her out of the office with him toward the saloon’s rear door.

“Where’re we going, Scully?”

Again ignoring her inquiry, Scully ushered Lacey along with him, then pushed open the door of the back entrance and urged her out ahead of him into the narrow yard.

He felt the shock that rippled through her.

Lacey gulped. She took a deep breath. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she started toward the hitching post where the small burro was tethered.

It couldn’t be…but it was!

“It’s…Careful!”

The burro’s name emerged from her lips with a sob as Lacey reached the animal in a few running steps. Careful turned his head toward her with a welcoming bray and tears streamed down her cheeks. She slid her arms around Careful’s neck and hugged him tight….

She was a child again. The days were long and sun-filled, and Careful was her loyal playmate, helpmate and friend.

The choking stench of the fire hung on the air. Her grandfather lay dead in front of her and the charred remains of her home behind her. She was terrified and alone, but Careful stood steadfast nearby.

The road was long, the sun hot. Her head throbbed, her legs ached and her throat was parched. She was afraid. She couldn’t walk any farther, but Careful trudged on beside her, limping every step of the way.

The Gold Nugget came into view at last. She couldn’t make it. She couldn’t walk another step, but Careful wouldn’t give up, and neither could she.

She was sick. She didn’t want to get better. She didn’t want to remember…but Careful was alone, and he needed her.

She was fully recovered. She was leaving for boarding school to be educated as her grandpa always wanted. She was leaving Careful behind, and the emptiness inside her ached….

So many years in between. So many clouded memories and uncertainties, but she was home again at last. She knew that now, because Careful was with her again.

Uncertain how long it took to compose herself, Lacey turned back toward the big man who stood silently watchful behind her. Aware that words could not adequately express the full scope of her emotion, she said simply, “Thank you,” then walked into Scully’s embrace.

Enveloped in joyful tears as Scully held her comfortingly close, Lacey was not aware of the well-dressed man lurking in the shadows nearby. She had not seen him lingering in the mercantile, listening intently to her conversation at the counter. Nor had she noticed him following her at a safe distance when she left the store and started across the street.

Standing still unseen, Barret Gould paused to coldly assess the emotional scene unfolding. He had overheard the statement Lacey Stewart made in the store minutes earlier. She said she had returned to Weaver with plans for the future that had nothing to do with Jake Scully. She’d added that her plans didn’t include waiting around for the right man to come along. Both were commendable statements that appeared innocent enough to the average person.

Yet the average person did not know Lacey’s secret—a secret she did not know he shared.

A slow elation expanded inside Barret. He was being given a second chance for success in a plan that had met with devastating failure ten years earlier.

He would succeed this time, and the distinguished future that had escaped him—for which he was destined—would finally be his.

Lacey Stewart didn’t stand a chance.

Chapter Three

“The answer is no!”

Lacey stood opposite Scully in the morning shadows of her room. The events of the previous day, when Careful was returned to her, had left her shaken. She hadn’t had the heart for the argument she knew was certain to ensue when Scully learned she had accepted a job in Sadie’s restaurant, but he had appeared at her door that morning for breakfast, and she had known it was now or never.

Never was not an option.

Lacey took a deep breath, then said, “Try to understand, Scully. I—”

“I said, the answer is no. You aren’t going to do that kind of work.”

Her reply was spontaneous. “I don’t recall asking your permission.”

Scully’s gray eyes pinned her. Somehow, he had never looked bigger or more intimidating than he did at that moment as he towered over her in his anger, but Lacey did not back down when he replied, “No, you didn’t ask my permission, but you should have.”

“You forget. I’m eighteen years old—an adult. You’re not my guardian anymore.”

“I’m not, huh?”