The Marshal's Ready-Made Family

“Back outside.” Edith broke the impasse and shooed the youngest McCoy toward the porch. “The adults are talking.”

“Sounds like you’re arguing.”

“It’s a heated discussion. You and Cora play with the kittens until I call you.”

“I still say you’re arguing,” Max grumbled, but dutifully latched the door behind him.

Edith straightened the doormat with her heel. “It’ll be nice having an Elder on the land again. We should check the roof before he gets here.”

Ely grunted. “Enough. It doesn’t matter right now who owns the old Elder farm. What matters is what’s going to happen to Cora.”

Visibly shaking off the distraction, Edith straightened her collar. “I don’t think Marshal Cain has much of a choice. Keeping law in this town is unpredictable. If a judge looks at a husband and wife, also relatives, compared to a single man. A single lawman.” She paused. “How can he think Marshal Cain is the best choice?”

“I am the best choice.” The marshal punctuated each word with emotion. “I love her. I don’t want her because she comes with a pile of money. I’ve been raising her for a week. We’re struggling, sure. But I’m trying. I’ll try harder.”

Jo groaned as her ma set out the plates for supper. Heaven forbid Edith McCoy let a simple little thing like the ruin of a man’s life disrupt a meal.

“What if you’re called away?” Edith slid a plate across the table. “It took us almost a week to find you when we received the telegram about Cora.”

The marshal made a sound of disgust.

Panic welled in Jo’s throat. Didn’t they see how much Marshal Cain and his niece needed each other? Her ma was more concerned with propriety than love.

Jo clenched her hands on the table. “I can help out if he’s called away. Cora knows me.”

“That’s only one of his problems.” Edith added flatware next to the plates with infuriating precision. “His job is dangerous. What if something happens? If he’s wounded or worse. Who will take care of Cora then?”

Marshal Cain slapped his hat on his head. “I’m not giving up my girl.” He gestured dismissively toward Reverend Miller. “If some judge in Missouri....” He glanced pointedly around the room. “Or anyone else tries to take my child, they’ll have a fight on their hands.”

His expression scornful, Marshal Cain strode toward the door.

The room erupted into noisy chatter once more as everyone began talking and gesturing in overlapping conversations.

“There’s a perfectly obvious solution—” Edith began.

“Obvious to whom?” the reverend interrupted.

“You talk to him.”

Ely touched his chest. “Me?”

Jo stomped her boot. “This is getting us nowhere.”

Her pa’s head swung between the competing conversations. The reverend flailed his arms at Ely while Edith pointed a finger at her husband.

Jo brushed past them and blocked the marshal’s exit. “Let’s get hitched.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” Jo declared. “Let’s get married.”

Chapter Five

Shocked by her own words, Jo froze. Immediate silence descended on the room. Marshal Cain’s jaw dropped. For several long moments nothing stirred the air except the steady tick, tick, tick of the clock on the mantel.

Jo felt her face flame. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? He doesn’t have a wife. As Cora’s uncle, he’s a closer relative to her than a second cousin. What can the judge say if he’s married?”

“Well, uh,” the reverend sputtered. “You make a compelling argument.”

Marshal Cain hadn’t moved. He hadn’t even blinked an eyelash. The more time stretched out without a response, the more frustrated Jo became. Why didn’t he say something? Yes, no, maybe, I’ll think about it...

If Mary Louise from the mercantile had asked, he probably would’ve jumped at the chance.

“Never mind,” she declared.

“No.” The marshal held up his hand. “Jo is right. If I have a wife, they’ve lost the balance of their case against me.”

“JoBeth—” her ma placed a hand on her shoulder “—think about what you’re saying. This isn’t a decision to take lightly.”

Ely clutched his head. “You’ve lost me, Edith. Why were you dropping all those hints if you didn’t want them to get married? Why put the idea in her head if you were just gonna talk her out of it?”

“I wasn’t talking about Jo,” Mrs. McCoy hissed through clenched teeth, her emphatic gaze encompassing their rapt audience. “I was talking about one of the ladies on the fried-chicken tour.”

Jo whipped out of her mother’s hold. “I might not have been featured on the tour, but I know what I’m doing.”

She also knew she was acting like a child, but she didn’t care right then.

“This is a disaster,” Edith snapped.

Affronted, Jo challenged her ma. “How on earth does this qualify as a disaster?”

“Everybody out!” her pa shouted with a clap, startling both women into silence.

No one moved.

“I said everyone outside.”

Spurred by the force of his booming command, Jo and Marshal Cain automatically turned toward the door.

“Not you two.” Ely rolled his eyes. “The rest of us will leave.”

He waved his wife and the reverend toward the door. Reverend Miller scooted out of the tense room as if his heels were on fire. Edith scowled and stubbornly bustled around the stove. “Let me turn down the fire on the gravy.”

Ely grasped her elbow and coaxed her toward the door. “Come along, dear.”

“But the table,” her ma protested, dragging her feet. “The dinner...”

“The potatoes will be here in ten minutes. Those two need time alone more than they need a pot roast right now.”