“I’m sorry, too, but this isn’t something that can be forgotten like it never happened.” Her tone had harshened. “I came to tell you—”
“Ellen,” Liam said.
We both looked up. Over the stone wall, I had a clear view of the slope. A man in uniform, a deputy, was crossing the footbridge across the creek.
Swiftly, I looked from Liam to Ellen and back again. Hope could uplift, but it could also hurt. One never understood how painful hope could be until the last shred of it was ripped away.
Now wasn’t the time for forgiveness. My debt must be paid. But come what may, I was done with lying. I wasn’t afraid. No matter how long they kept me away from here, one day I’d come back. Roger would finish building my house, and I’d come home to Cooper’s Hollow—because I’d never really wanted to be anywhere else.
From the corner of my eye, movement on the right caught my attention. I turned to see Roger. He came from nowhere, crossing the woods and the slope, waving at the deputy. He moved at a relaxed but fast clip, almost an eager pace. They met midslope and stopped to talk, and then Roger pointed toward the cemetery, and suddenly the officer was looking directly at me.
So they’d told the authorities after all.
I meant what I’d said to Roger about deserving whatever punishment might come my way, but my courage fled. It evaporated. My last hope was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Liam grabbed my arm. “Don’t run away,” he said.
I met his eyes. “I’ve never been one to run, and I’m done hiding from the truth, too.”
Ellen had gone over the wall, as if to join the deputy and Roger, but she stopped a few yards from them. She was watching them and waiting. For something.
Liam dropped his voice, speaking softly. “Ellen came to confront you, to have it out with you. I explained how her life might’ve gone if it had all happened differently, but she said, ‘What might have happened doesn’t justify what was done.’” He looked down at his boots before he returned his gaze to me. “When she saw you here at the grave, I think she understood something she hadn’t before.”
“What’s that?”
“Something I tried to tell her. That sometimes there are no rules for life.”
“There are rules. Laws.”
“Laws are things politicians write down to make you do what they want you to do. I’m talking about rules. Moral rules but also common-sense rules. Most laws don’t have much common sense built in.” He looked away. “People want black and white, up or down, on or off. They want it spelled out. I’m saying life doesn’t always lend itself to clear, easy choices.”
I sighed. “I appreciate that, but wrong is still wrong. I would do it the same way if it happened again, but I should’ve tried harder to find you. It’s just that by then . . . I couldn’t bear to lose her.”
“But you were ready to give her up now, regardless, when you saw how she was hurting and about to make some big mistakes.”
I looked back down toward the house. Roger and the deputy were walking away, heading back toward the parked vehicles. Ellen, never having joined them, was almost back to the cemetery.
“What’s going on?” I asked as she came back over the wall. I nodded toward the deputy and Roger. “Why was he here?”
“The deputy? He came to see Roger about something, I think. One of his workers had a problem.”
“I thought . . .” I coughed. “The deputy was looking this way, pointing, and I thought—”
“You thought I reported your crime?” Ellen said. “Or should I say crimes?”
Nothing could soften the hurt her words caused. I cringed and started to turn away. She grabbed my arm roughly.
“Do you really think I’d turn you in? That I’m capable of doing that to you?” She released me. “Let’s go,” she said to Liam.
Confused, I said, “But you were going down the hill to meet him, right?”
She threw me a scathing look and repeated, “I’m leaving now.”
“Go ahead,” Liam said to her. “I’ll be along shortly.”
Ellen hesitated, then tossed her hair back over her shoulder and climbed across the wall again, leaving us there.
We watched her go.
“I don’t know how much is Bridger,” Liam said, “or how much is due to the Cooper influence, but she’s formidable, isn’t she?”
I nodded, finally remembering to breathe. “Yes, she is.”
“Actually,” he added, “I think she was afraid that the deputy was here for you. I think she was heading down there to stop him, but Roger got there first, and she realized that wasn’t why the deputy had come. She’ll walk it out and calm down. She was scared.”
“Scared? For me?”
“Sure.” He picked up a loose pebble from atop the stone wall and examined it. “Something else I think you should know. Roger spoke to her. To us, too, including Mamie.”
“How is Mamie?”
Liam smiled broadly. “It’s been like a miracle for her—that is, once she got over the shock. She loves having a young one around. She was talking about going away but now says maybe she’ll stay and housekeep for me if I’ll stay, too.”
“How are you with that?”
“It might be a good plan.”
He stopped. I waited.
“About Roger. He said not to mention anything to you about his speaking to folks, but I thought you should know.” Liam added, “It’s good to have friends.”
“I’m sure that’s true.”
“One more thing I need to tell you.”
Now what? My nerves were wearing thin.
“I’m not sure how you’ll feel about this.”
“Please, Liam. Just throw it at me. Get it said.” I felt tears trying to form. I didn’t want to cry again, and certainly not here in front of this man I’d wronged.
“It was Mamie’s idea.” He waved his hands. “I’m sorry, I’ll say it plain. Mamie says people will talk about Ellen being at our house, and she’s right. Mamie suggested that maybe we could hint around—just that, a few hints carefully planted—that I’d been home briefly eighteen years ago or thereabouts. Sort of a hit-and-run visit, and that’s why no one had seen me—and you and I had hooked up and . . . well, you can imagine the rest. Then I took off and married Sheryl. You kept your counsel about who your baby’s father was to protect Ellen and our families, but now I’m back, and I know about Ellen. And my daughter and I are getting to know each other.”
I gasped. I wanted to laugh, but there wasn’t enough oxygen left in me to fuel it.
He continued. “If you’re OK with it, of course. It makes the most sense, I think. I hope you’re not offended. Mamie reads a lot of romance novels.” He scratched his head. “So, if you don’t mind the story, I’ll run it by Roger? I know it might not look good for your reputation . . .”
And I did laugh then. It felt good. Delightfully so.