Page 35 of Wrangling Her Heart
Briggs was running out of bullets, and Rex could see a dark stain spreading from his shoulder. They waited until the last of the riders cleared out so they could go get the marshal.
“Let’s get you back to the Chapmans,” Rex said. “Marmee will know how to take care of this.”
“It’s just a flesh wound. I’ve had worse.” Briggs waved them off.
Rex helped the marshal to his feet. “I saw Whit with them. He was shooting at you. Actually, he was shooting over your head,” he said firmly, trying to keep his own emotions in check.
“Remember what I said about letting it go?” Briggs groaned as he lifted himself onto his horse. “You aren’t letting it go.”
Rex met Briggs’ gaze, his jaw tightening in a mix of confusion and anger. He felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice, his brother’s betrayal teetering him towards an abyss of uncertainty. “I just want to know that he’s safe. That Esther will be safe.”
“We’ll deal with Whit later,” Briggs grunted, shifting in the saddle to accommodate the pain shooting through his shoulder. “He’ll take care of Esther. He would do nothing to harm her.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because he loves her. You’d do anything for the woman you love.”
“You ever been in love, Briggs?” Devin asked.
“A long time ago. A very long time ago.”
“What happened?” Rex asked.
“I never told her.” The marshal tapped his horse and started down the trail. Rex and Devin exchanged glances before they followed, leaving George’s lifeless body behind.
Briggs’ words seemed to echo in Rex’s head.
“I never told her.”
Rex felt a pang of familiarity, an uncomfortable resonance that he had been trying to ignore. His mind wandered back to Tillie as they rode through the chilly night. The way her green eyes sparkled when she smiled, the soft sound of her laughter, the courage she showed despite her fears. The way she told him she loved him before he left.
He loved her. And he nearly missed the chance to tell her.
As his brother’s betrayal hung over him like a storm cloud, Rex finally comprehended Briggs’ remorse. He clenched his jaw and made a mental note to make things right when he returned home. Family was everything to him. That’s where his loyalties lay. And if that meant confronting the painful reality of Whit’sactions, then he would do it without hesitation. Tillie had become his family now.
Chapter Thirteen
Tillie pushed open the creaky, weather-beaten door and stepped onto the porch. Rex stood there, his back against the worn wooden post, facing the vibrant orange sky as the sun rose in the east.
He had said little since he arrived home with a gunshot wound on his arm. Annamae bandaged it up and Tillie made sure he had plenty of fresh coffee and biscuits. Marshal Briggs headed to the Chapman house to let Reverend Billings know what had occurred. The families agreed to delay Thanksgiving as they made plans to resume searching after a few hours of rest.
“Rex?” she ventured softly, drawing closer as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I thought I could find you out here.”
“I was just thinking.”
“What about?”
He turned to her; his expression pained but determined. “About tonight. They took Esther. I saw the fear in her eyes,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “And I can’t bear to think how frightened she must’ve been.” He knocked a pebble off the edge of the porch with his boot. “All I could think of is that it could have been you.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“George wouldn’t have thought twice about putting you with those men. And I’m so angry about Whit. What was he thinking?”
“Maybe Whit has his reasons.”
“No. It goes against all the teachings we received growing up. Hard work. Perseverance. Loyalty to family. Reckon he forgot who we are,” Rex grumbled, one hand gripping the porch railing so tightly his knuckles whitened.
“Sometimes people are caught up with the allure of easy money.”
