Page 49 of The Sheriff and the Outlaw

“Josey, you have to go!” Lillian trilled. “We’ll have so much fun.”

“Yes, and there’ll be sugar candy!” Andrew added.

Daxton chuckled. “Now, I don’t know about the candy—”

“Please, Pa!” both children chimed at the same time, clearly excited.

Daxton smiled. “We’ll see.” He looked over at Josey and she was just picking at her food, obviously lost in thought. “We can talk about it later. Let’s eat before the food gets cold.” The children resumed eating, so excited that they didn’t notice Josey’s change in demeanor. “Josey, it’s delicious. You’ll have to show me how to make it.”

“There’s no need,” Andrew said between bites. “Josey can always cook it for us.”

She gave him a small smile. “As long as I’m welcome.”

“Of course! You’ll always be welcome!” Lillian reached across the table and gave Josey’s hand a gentle squeeze.

Josey smiled and nodded, and then took another bite of her chili.

“Children, finish eating. You both need to take baths after dinner.” Daxton turned his attention back to eating, not making eye contact with Josey. He swore that he wouldn’t let his children or himself get too attached to her. Maybe it was a good idea to take the children to Laramie for the rodeo alone. “Josey, if I take the children to Laramie Saturday, will you be okay here alone?”

She smiled as she looked up from her chili, but then looked back down again. “Yes, of course. Maybe I’ll do some sewing while you’re away.”

“Let me know if there’s anything you need from Laramie and I’ll get it while we’re there.” Daxton rose abruptly to his feet and then set his empty bowl in the sink. He didn’t want to think of Josey leaving just yet. Then again, she had said that she was no longer married. But he couldn’t allow himself to think that way. To hope. He knew nothing about this woman but what she had told him. The sheriff in him told him not to trust her until he had proof of who she was and who her husband had been. But his gut told him that he could trust her. Daxton just hoped that he wasmaking the right decision by letting her stay there. After all, the lives of his children depended on it.

Chapter 11

Josey

After dinner, Josey stacked the dishes and put some water on to heat.

“Here. I’ll get that.” Daxton took the other bucket from her hand, filled it, and then set it on the top of the stove for the children’s baths and dishwater. His eyebrows pulled together in concern, and he suddenly seemed distant. And Josey herself had grown quiet at dinner after the mention of going to Laramie.

Daxton had probably noticed.

But she couldn’t go to Laramie. No matter what. If Austin Slater or a member of his gang saw her, it could get Daxton and the children killed… as well as herself and the baby. No, Daxton and the children would be safe, as long as she wasn’t seen with them.

As she stacked the dishes, she knew that she should tell Daxton about Logan and Austin, but how could she tell him that she had killed her husband? Would he believe that it was in self-defense? Deep down inside, she wondered if she even deserved to live. After all, she had taken a life, no matter how despicable that life had been. She sighed, thinking. Could God forgive her for what she had done, or would she be condemned to Hell for eternity?

Josey pushed the thought from her mind. What she had to think about right now was her child. She owed it to her baby tolive. The child had nothing to do with who his or her father had been… or what her mother had become.

For a split second, she wished that the child had been Daxton’s and not Logan’s. She could never tell anyone who the real father of the child was, for fear of it getting back to her child later in life. No, this child was no longer Logan’s. It was hers and hers alone. And she would do anything to protect it, to give him or her a good life.

“Are you all right?” Daxton asked, taking a dish from her hand.

She nodded. “Just a little tired.”

Daxton sighed, but didn’t smile. “Why don’t you go lie down? I’ll take care of the dishes and the children.”

“No, I can—”

“Josey, go get some rest,” he whispered, his eyes kind as he placed his hand gently over hers.

Normally, she would have insisted that she do the dishes, but she was just so tired… and she also needed time alone to think. She was living in a make-believe world with the family that she had always wanted… but they weren’t hers. And it was too dangerous to her heart to pretend that they were.

“If you insist.” She handed him the dishtowel and headed toward the bedroom.

“Night, Josey,” Lillian said as she passed.

Josey stopped and smiled. “You want me to show you some things tomorrow?”

---