Page 72 of A Convenient Heart
“You wantme…to be a deputy?”
Danna looked as serious as he’d ever seen her, even though her hand rested on the little girl’s head. “I’d be proud to have you working at my side. You’ve made a difference for a lot of people without taking any recognition for it. Maybe it’s time you pin on a badge.”
He promised to think about it, and she took her leave after a few words to Merritt.
He couldn’t believe it. The marshal wanted him for a deputy? The job would give him the financial security he wanted to provide for Merritt and their future family. It would be a tie to Calvin, to the community here.
It felt too good to be true. Like God had dropped the biggest pot imaginable right into Jack’s lap.
* * *
Merritt gave Jack a moment as he murmured something about getting the brick out of the stove. He seemed to need the time to get his head on straight.
It was the least she could give him. He’d seemed so surprised by Danna’s offer. And she’d felt the relief shudder through him when she’d held him close after she’d seen that half-page letter he’d written. Like he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for Merritt—or the town—to find him unworthy.
Merritt said a little prayer for him as she went to her room and grabbed Jack’s hat off the end of her bed.
She met him in the parlor. He’d donned his coat and was coming in from where he must’ve put his warming brick in the carriage.
“Maybe I can give this to you without interruption this time,” she said.
She went to him, extending the hat she’d gifted him once before. “It was yours, always meant to be yours.”
His nostrils flared slightly as he took the upturned hat from her, then he frowned as he realized there was something inside the crown.
He reached inside and plucked out the black leather gloves she’d tucked inside. “Merritt…”
“I wanted to,” she said. She felt the echo of what he’d told her once before as his face held an almost disbelieving expression—a hint of the boy who’d never been given a Christmas gift before. It wasn’t right, and she couldn’t make it right, but she’d wanted to give him more than just the hat.
“Thank you.” His voice was rough, and he cleared his throat and slipped the gloves into his coat pocket, pulled the hat into place on his head. He went to the sofa, where a brown-wrapped package rested. Had she walked right by it without seeing it?
“This is for you. Merry Christmas.”
He’d been open with her about his lack of funds—and that he didn’t want to visit a poker table again, not when he needed to clean up his reputation.
“You shouldn’t have,” she murmured. But she reached for the twine holding the paper closed anyway.
“Albert Hyer let me put it on credit. He said he knew I was good for it.” Merritt was concentrating on folding back the paper, but she still heard the note of incredulousness in Jack’s voice. Another sign of the folks in town accepting him.
The paper fell away and revealed a lovely lace shawl.
“Oh, Jack.” Her eyes smarted, filling with tears. It was beautiful.
“Mrs. Quinn told me you’d bid on one like it at the auction until the price got too high. If you don’t like it?—”
“I love it.” She held it to her chest and looked up at him, letting him see everything she felt. It had been a long time since she’d received a gift like this. Impractical, beautiful, something given to her simply because she liked it.
Jack had given her that. Brought beauty and love back into her life.
“I can’t wait for the weather to warm. I’ll wear it every Sunday morning to church.”
A hint of relief passed through his eyes. “I’m glad.”
He tugged her toward the door. “We should go. Before someone else knocks on that door.”
She secured her new gift safely in the bureau in her bedroom and found Jack had already lifted her carpetbag. “I’m ready.”
Outside, he helped her into the carriage and took his time tucking the lap blanket around her feet, making sure the brick he’d wrapped in cloth was right beneath her to keep her warm.
