Page 308 of The Texas Sterling Collection
“We’ll have plenty of time together this spring. It’s only late July, so we have at least two months of warm weather.” Joey looked into Felix’s eyes.
“I do love you, Joseph Sterling.” Felix leaned in to kiss Joey.
The kiss parted. “I love you too, Felix Bonner.”
They climbed out of the spring. “We’d better get back to the house.” Joey grabbed his shirt and tugged it on. “Ma will have lunch ready.”
“I’m hungry.” Felix pulled on his boots.
“Me too.”
They mounted their horses and rode back to the barn.
After they unsaddled and curried their horses, they strolled to the house in time for lunch.
Mabel smiled as the boys entered the kitchen. “We’ll have a good meal at the Bowdens' tonight, so I put out sliced ham and bread.” She pointed to the table. “Make yourselves a sandwich, and there is potato salad too.”
“Is Pa eating?” Felix noticed that Grover’s chair was empty.
“He already had his lunch. He’s washing up and getting dressed.”
The best friends dug into their lunch. As they finished, Joey said, “Felix?"
“Yes?” Felix gazed at the man who had become much more than his best friend.
“Thank you for this morning.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Grover’s warning:You will learn to show respect if I have to use my fists to beat it into you,and his threat:Don’t be ridiculous, Bonner. You are a storekeeper, and yours is not the only store in Blackfield. You have no power in this countykept echoing in Cornelius’ head. He needed to get even with that smug rancher and had just the plan. Mid-afternoon Sunday, he entered the living room, interrupting his wife’s reading. “There are a few things I need to do at the store before tomorrow,” he said. “I expect to be home for supper.”
Hattie frowned but didn’t bother to look up from her book. “Okay.”
He knew she enjoyed reading but didn’t care that he interrupted her. The children were outside playing, which kept them from making noise in the house. Theirs marriage was loveless, and the children were a societal obligation. His own father demanded that he marry and produce offspring. The old curmudgeon had died early, thank goodness, but not before Cornelius married out of obligation. Hattie thought she could change him. It hadn’t worked.
At the store, he closed the front door behind him and left the shade drawn. He glanced around the store as he passed through the shelves on his way to the stairs. Up in his office, he removed his hat and suit coat. Sitting at his desk, he pondered his plan. He needed the courage to do it. He stood and went downstairs into the central part of the store.
He knocked a few things off the counter in a broad sweep with his arm. Items clattered to the floor. He walked to a display of cheap trinkets and pushed the entire cabinet over. It crashed, scattering glass, wood, and metal bits. This would cost him, but it was worth it. Looking at the mess, he thought it reasonable and appropriate. It would fit with his story to the sheriff.
On his way to the stairs, he stopped in the children’s toy section. A toy baseball bat would do the trick. He reached for one and carried it with him up the stairs. He sat at his desk. This next part was going to be unpleasant. He rolled up his shirtsleeves. He drew a deep breath, held his arm out palm up, and began pounding the arm with the bat. The pain was intense, but he could endure the discomfort to achieve his goal of getting Sterling once and for all. He thought of how Sterling said Felix was a man and could make his own decisions. That kind of thing didn’t fly with Cornelius. His boy belonged to him and would damn well do whatever Cornelius wanted. He pounded the other arm and then whacked his head several times. Dizzy and bloody, he tossed the toy bat to the floor, staggered down the stairs, and stumbled through the store. He tugged open the door and weaved onto the wooden sidewalk, where he faked a collapse.
The rinkytink piano in the saloon three doors down reached his ears. He heard boots clomping fast against the wooden sidewalk.
“Mister, you okay?” Asked one of the two men who approached him.
“Sterling,” Cornelius muttered, “came in the store and attacked me.”
His face and head were covered in blood. The two men helped him up and sat him on the edge of the wooden sidewalk. One of them went for the doctor and the sheriff.
* * *
Sheriff Jackson arrived first. He had served as sheriff in Blackfield for five years and knew everybody in the county. He knelt, taking account of the blood and bruises. “What happened, Bonner?”
Cornelius winced and panted, “Grover Sterling. Came into my store the other day, yelling and screaming at me. Today, he came back and attacked me.” Cornelius looked distraught, which was not difficult to understand, given his appearance.
Sheriff Jackson nudged his hat further back on his head. “Why do you think he came back? Was there a reason for him to attack you?” An accusation against one of the county’s most prominent citizens needed a thorough investigation. Plus, such actions did not fit with the Grover Sterling he had known for years.
“I don’t have any idea, Sheriff. I was working in my office. I guess he saw the lamps were lit and came in.”
