The Sheriff Of Wickham Falls

“Mr. Grand at the hardware store was bending my ear about the parade,” Natalia said, smiling.

“It’s a big deal in The Falls because of so many active military and former veterans.”

“Like you?”

Seth nodded. “Yes, like me. I suppose you noticed the American and US Marine Corps flags attached to the porch.”

“That and the Semper Fidelis decal on the bumper of this car,” she said, laughing softly. “Is it true once a marine, always a marine?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What other holidays do you celebrate big-time?”

“The Fourth of July. We combine that with three nights of carnival rides, games and food contests. Labor Day is a little low-key with family cookouts. Then the whole town also turns out to celebrate Halloween. There are games and a photo gallery where parents can pose in costume with their children. After sunset, there are tailgate parties, hayrides and bonfires with folks taking turns reading ghost stories. It’s the perfect segue to our Fall Frolic, Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Once most of the mines closed and kids were leaving to join the military or find employment elsewhere, those who couldn’t or didn’t want to leave The Falls look forward to the town-wide get-togethers.”

“It must have been fun growing up here with all of the holiday celebrations.”

“It was and still is,” Seth confirmed. “The adults have as much fun as their children.”

* * *

Natalia stared at the passing cars of the freight train, some of them carrying hazardous materials, and remembered the excitement in Johnnie Lee Grand’s voice when he talked nonstop about the upcoming parade and wondered if Seth would become a participant.

“How many people leave and come back?” she asked.

She realized she was asking way too many questions, but it served as a foil not to think about the man sitting inches from her. There was something about Seth that made it impossible for her to ignore him. She found his overall virility, soothing drawling voice and smiling light brown eyes fascinating.

Resting an arm over the back of her seat, Seth exhaled an audible sigh. “Not too many. There was a time when my father was drafted to serve in Vietnam that most of the boys who survived came back to work in the mines like their fathers, grandfathers and generations of men before them. Then after the mines closed, most of those who went into the military didn’t bother to come back because there were no jobs for them. The members of the town council have repeatedly voted down allowing chains to set up here because although it would provide employment opportunities, the downside is it would also put local shopkeepers out of business.”

Natalia turned slightly to give Seth a long, penetrating stare. “What made your dad come back?”

“A pretty girl who was in college studying to become a schoolteacher caught his eye. My father had just begun dating my mother when his number came up. He wanted to marry her before being shipped out, but she refused, saying she didn’t want to be a young war widow. She told him if and when he came back she would marry him. He made it through the war physically unscathed except for occasional flashbacks which plagued him for years. He married my mother and because he was good at fixing things, he started up a home repair business. Dad could glance at a diagram of something and put it together without looking at it again.”

“So, your father was never a coal miner?”

“No. But my grandfather and his father before him were. Grandpa used to say all of us were different colors when we went down in the mines, but at the end of the day when we came out, we were all the same color from the coal dust.”

“And it was the same when they were diagnosed with black lung,” Natalia whispered.

“You’re right about that. Mining was both a blessing and a curse. It provided men with money to take care of their wives and children, but it also destroyed entire families when fathers, grandfathers, sons, brothers and uncles were killed or injured because of unsafe conditions. If you travel throughout the state you’ll see memorials erected to honor those who lost their lives in mine disasters.”

Natalia remembered television coverage of a mining disaster in West Virginia when she was in her last year of medical school. Experts reported it was preventable because the owners had neglected to install safety systems. The mines may have closed in and around Wickham Falls, but mining for coal, copper, silver, iron, lead, diamonds, gemstones and other minerals was still in operation in the States and all over the world.

“Why did you come back?”

“Initially I’d planned to make the military my career, but after eighteen years, I came back to be with my mother after my father passed away. My father had retired and my sisters who were living in Georgia were begging them to move closer to their grandchildren. Mom would’ve gone years ago, but Dad didn’t want to leave his buddies who got together every week to play cards and trade war stories. Four months after I became a civilian, the sheriff approached me to join the department as a deputy because he knew I’d been military police. Once I was sworn in, Mom told me she was moving to Savannah, so I utilized my GI bill and bought the house from her. She moved into a townhome several blocks from my younger sister.”

Natalia smiled. “So, you’re one of the rare ones who left and came back to stay.”

The last car of the freight train clattered past as Seth put the car in gear and drove over the tracks. “It wasn’t something I’d planned until I was much older, but even the best made plans can go awry.”

“I hear you,” she said under her breath.

When she’d accepted Daryl’s marriage proposal, Natalia felt as if all of the pieces of her life were falling into place. She’d realized her dream to become a doctor, and had met and fallen in love with a brilliant litigator who’d landed a position with one of Philadelphia’s most prestigious law firms. He had pursued her relentlessly for two years until she’d agreed to become his wife, but then he changed much like a snake shedding his skin when he went from easygoing to someone she didn’t recognized. She’d made allowances for the shift in his behavior to the added responsibility of becoming partner, but once his controlling and ongoing criticisms about her appearance impacted her emotional well-being, Natalia decided she’d had enough and began pushing back. Disagreements escalated into shouting matches after which they wouldn’t speak to each other for days. Physical intimacy declined and then stopped altogether when Daryl spent more time in his condo than he did in hers. They continued to attend social events as a couple unbeknownst to others that their relationship was as fragile as eggshells.

“How long do you intend to work here before you return to Pennsylvania?”

Seth’s query shattered Natalia’s reverie. “I won’t know until the end of next April.”

He gave her sidelong glance. “What’s happening then?”

“That’s when I’ll let Dr. Franklin know if I intend to join his practice as a partner.”

“And if you don’t?”

“Then I’ll have to decide where I want to go. It’ll probably be in another small town because I’ve had enough of municipal hospitals with staff shortages, shrinking budgets and endless bureaucratic red tape. I’ve always wanted to be a small-town doctor and living and working here will give me the experience I’ll need to establish my own practice.”

“Let’s hope you’ll find a permanent home here because we need you.”

Chapter Three (#uc0a37625-534f-5001-b16e-71f0f2b5939b)

Seth escorted Natalia into the Wolf Den, his hand resting at the small of her back. He felt her go stiff against his palm before she went pliant. When he’d told her that we need you, he had included himself in that equation. He didn’t want her as a girlfriend but as a friend. It had been a few years since he could count a woman among his friends.

The conversations among those seated at the bar stopped when customers spotted him with Natalia. The locals were used to seeing him come in wearing his uniform, but rarely in street clothes or with a woman. He nodded and exchanged greetings with those with whom he had reconnected since returning to The Falls. Transitioning to life as a civilian had gone smoothly for Seth, which he attributed to frequent trips home. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something about his hometown that drew him back again and again. Even when his mother announced that she was moving to Savannah, Seth had the option of reenlisting or becoming a federal agent with the Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division. He had taken advantage of his GI education benefit to obtain a bachelor’s in criminal justice and had six remaining credits to complete to obtain a graduate degree in the same field.

He had been truthful with Natalia when he told her he’d wanted to return to live in Wickham Falls, but only after he retired from the military and law enforcement. If he’d served in the corps for twenty years and another twenty as a federal agent he would be fifty-eight, still young enough to enjoy fishing, traveling and tinkering around his house. Not once had the notion of having his own family figured into his future plans once his divorce was finalized.

Seth had known when he married Melissa, life would be challenging for his young wife. She had complained that she felt like a nomad packing up their apartment and moving whenever he received orders to transfer to a different base. The final straw came when he was deployed to Afghanistan. When he returned to the States, it was to discover his wife was carrying another man’s child. Her excuse that she was lonely and he wasn’t there for her fell on deaf ears. Seth filed for divorce, ending their three-year marriage, and then signed up for his second deployment.

“Hey, Seth, where have you been hiding yourself?” the bartender shouted.

One of the regulars, a retired postal worker sitting at the bar, raised his mug of beer. “Fletcher’s right. Me and the boys were talking about not seeing you around. We thought you had re-upped.”

Smiling, Seth patted the older man’s back. “It’s called a vacation, Jesse.”

“Good for you and good for us. Sheriff Jensen would be up the creek if he lost you.” The others sitting at the bar echoed his sentiment. “By the way, who’s your pretty girlfriend?”

Seth stared at Natalia when she glanced up at him. He was suddenly aware that being seen with her would generate some gossip. He lowered his head. “Do you want to introduce yourself?” he said in her ear.

* * *

Natalia knew it was only a matter of time before all of Wickham Falls would know who she was, not as Seth’s girlfriend but as Dr. Franklin’s assistant. “I’m Natalia Hawkins, and Seth and I are just friends,” she added, smiling.

“If that’s the case, I’m available if you’re looking for a boyfriend,” called out a man with a shaved pate, a full strawberry blonde beard and both arms covered with colorful tattoos.

Natalia laughed along with the others. “I just got rid of a boyfriend so I’m really not looking for another one right about now,” she said truthfully.

Seth’s arm curved around her waist. “Let’s find a booth before someone puts a ring on your finger.”