Faith of the Heart (29 page)

             
“
Well now, Mr. Kennedy, I can’t rightly say.
J
ust contact us if you see or hear
from
him
.
”

             
The men headed out from the train station, squinting in the afternoon sun.

             
“Percy, I don’t like this. That
guy
is a thief and a liar.
I think he could become dangerous.
Let’s
check the livery stable to see if he turned in that horse he rented.
Then we’ll check out boarding houses and hotels in town.
My guess is that he’s nearby and he’ll try to see Claire again.”

             
“Hold on
, now,
Tom.
Take o
ne step at a time. Maybe he’s just planning on a later train or he had other business in town. Let’s not assume the worst.”

             
Percy glanced over at his friend. It wasn’t like Tom to fret.
Usually
,
he was as
tough
as a brick wall. He’d witnessed Tom in
shoot-outs and seen him less frazzled.

             
“I guess you’re right
,
Perc
e
, but I still want to check out
Murphy’s
Livery. Let’s go.”

             
Tom lengthened his strides, his long legs covering the four
blocks in record time
,
Percy hustl
ing
to keep up.
They rounded the corner to Tenth Street and strode into Paddy Murphy’s stable. Inside it was cool and dim and smelled of horses and hay.      

            “Paddy Murphy
,
where are you?” Tom hollered as he stood in the interior.

             
“Hold on, I’ll be right down
,
”
a muffled voice sounded from above them.
The livery owner clambered down the ladder from the loft where he
was
pitching hay.

             
“Oh,
S
heriff
,
what can I do for you?” The small man
asked,
still holding his pitchfork.

             
“Yesterday you rented out a
horse
to a man named Moore.
Has he returned it?
”

             
“
Why no
,
he hasn’t
,
but I don’t expect him until tomorrow.”
Murphy set down the pitchfork and thumbed
through a small ledger.
“Yup, see here, he rented the horse for three days. He said he wanted to see the countryside and maybe do a story about it. He’s some kind of writer or something. Is there a problem? He paid in cash. Seemed like a nice enough guy for an easterner.”

             
“I can’t
really
say. Just let me know when he returns the
horse tomorrow. I’d like to have a word with him.”

             
“Will do
,
S
heriff.”

             
As they
left the stable Tom let out a groan. Percy patted him on the back.
“
Aw, come on, it
ain’t
so bad.
My guess is he got a bit flustered running into Claire and now he’s settled down and getting back to his
normal
schedule. You said yourself Claire didn’t care that he took the necklace. He probably just wanted a
memento
of his past with her.”

             
“I suppose you’re right.
But I’m gonna watch for him all the same.
Now let’s go over to Connie’s and get some of that fried chicken and pie. I’m
starved
.”

             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
Four Months Later,
December 1869

             
Claire sat next to her husband in the church pew
,
listening
to the words of Pastor Stevens uniting her best friend Connie
Rose
in marriage with Percy Simons
on
. She rested her folded hands upon the small mound of her stomach. She’d found out she was
expecting
just a few weeks prior.

             
Tom and Claire had married on the ranch on a beautiful crisp September afternoon. Nearly the entire town had attended the ceremony and party afterwards.
Linus, Connie
,
and Percy had roasted a pig and prepared mounds of potatoes, sweet corn
,
and bread. Connie had outdone herself by creating an elaborate three
-
tiered wedding cake and dozens of her famous oatmeal cookies.
That night,
the newlyweds had slipped away to a small hotel in Omaha to celebrate their union privately.

             
Claire and Tom were blissfully happy living on the ranch
,
riding into town each day to their respective jobs. Once the baby arrived
,
Tom
planned
to retire as sheriff and ranch full-time.
Claire would remain owner of the store
,
but would work only part-time. Billy, her young business partner, would work the majority of the hours.

             
When Percy learned he was to be Tom’s replacement as
s
heriff
,
he proposed to Connie
for the second time
.
Not kinda sorta, but for real.
Today
was the
twenty-first
of December and they were being married.

             
Claire sighed with pleasure at the simple
,
yet elegant candle
-
lit ceremony. Connie looked radiant in her ivory satin gown and Percy was positively beaming. Claire glanced over at Tom.
Sometimes she
couldn’t believe she was married to this very
striking man. His navy suit deepened the blue of his eyes and his black hair curled slightly about his collar. He
smiled
at her, dimples flashing. He gently took her hand and enveloped it in his much larger one.

             
“Penny for your thoughts,” he whispered.

             
“Everything is just so perfect. I keep waiting for something to go wrong
,
” she whispered back.

             
“Nothing will go wrong, I promise”
he smiled reassuringly at his young wife.
Inwardly he groaned at the memory
of that strange Cal Moore. Despite prolonged searching he and Percy had not been able to find him. It was as if he had vanished. Tom prayed Cal was gone for good, but his lawman’s intuition told him otherwise.

**
*

           
Meanwhile,
in the
frozen
woods near Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania
,
all seemed quiet. Snow had been piling up for days
,
erasing all signs of existence
, and even the wildlife seemed to
be
sleepy and inactive.
A lone grave had
recently
been dug
, a wooden cross erected. The crudely carved words
Cassie Bear –A Loyal
F
riend
identified
its
occupant. It too was being covered with a thick blanket of snow and would
soon
disappear
.
In a nearby
cold, dank
,
and filthy
cabin
a thin,
gray-eyed man
with wild eyes
stared into space
,
plott
ing
how he would get the
love of his life back, even if it meant
cross
ing
the country again, even if it meant
murder.

THE END