Connie came out of the kitchen carrying a large plate and a smaller one. She set them down and then went back for the pot of coffee and two cups.
“Thank you,” James said.
“You folks take your time eatin’,” Connie said, “I’m just gonna close the kitchen down.”
“Thanks, Connie.”
She went back to the kitchen and James cut into his steak. Belinda thought that maybe Connie’s interruption would help her get the conversation back on the right track.
“The only thing I know about Jeb Collier is that he’s coming here and he’s going to bring trouble. I need protection.”
“My protection?”
“I was hoping it would be the protection of you, your father, and your brother,” she said. “I was hoping you’d want to protect Little Matt.”
“Belinda,” James said, “my pa, my brother, and me—and the sheriff—we want to protect the whole town.”
“That may be,” she said, “but the whole town doesn’t have as much to fear from Jeb as I do.”
“And why’s that?”
“Jeb loved me once,” she said. “He’s not going to let me go so easily.”
“You think he’s comin’ ’cause he wants you back?”
“He wants to know if the baby’s his,” she said.
“How will he be able to tell any better than we can?”
“He won’t,” she said, “but if he decides it’s his, he’ll want it just because.”
“And if he decides it isn’t his?”
She sat back in her chair, stared at him, and hugged herself as if she’d just been overtaken by a chill.
“If he decides it’s not his, he’ll kill me for having a baby with another man.”
James knew that his brother and father not only didn’t believe Belinda when she said her son was Matthew’s, they also didn’t like her. But he didn’t see how he could possibly leave her to her fears that Jeb Collier might kill her.
He reached across the table, placed his hand over hers, and said, “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Belinda—whether you’re the mother of my brother’s child or not.”
She turned her hand over and clasped his. “You have no idea how comforting that is to me, James.”
52
Thomas stood across from the café and watched as his brother held hands with Belinda Davis. Initially, when he’d walked past the window and saw them sitting together in the empty café, his impulse was to rush in and interrupt them, find out what the hell James was doing. On second thought, however, he thought he might learn more by just watching. After all, James’s intention was to eat and he might have run into the girl by accident.
So he melted into a dark doorway, folded his arms, and waited.
“I should be getting back,” Belinda said after James had finished his steak. “Riley and Marion will be getting worried.”
If his father and brother were right about her, she probably wouldn’t have cared if they worried. He wondered why he saw a different woman than they did when they all looked at her.
“I’ll walk you back,” he said, standing up.
“That’s not necessary—”
“Yes, it is,” he said. “It’s getting’ dark.”
“All right,” she said, “but I’m paying for supper, remember?”
“But I can’t—”
“Or I won’t let you walk me home,” she said playfully.
“Well…okay…”
Connie came out of the kitchen to collect the money for the meal, wished them both a good night, and locked the door behind them as they left.
Belinda linked her arm in James’s and asked, “Do you mind?”
“No,” he said, “not at all.”
The girl had a good hold on James. Thomas could see that, physically and otherwise. As they started walking, he remained on his side of the street and kept pace. It soon became obvious that James was simply walking her home. Thomas decided to stay with them anyway, since James had been foolish enough to allow the girl to hang on to his gun arm.
“What will your father and brother think?” she asked as they walked.
“About what?”
She held his arm tightly, pressed herself against him so he could feel her firm young breast against him.
“About you becoming my protector?”
“I don’t rightly know,” he said. “I guess I’ll find out, though.”
“What if your pa tells you that you can’t?”
“He’s my pa,” James said, “but I’m a full-grown man. He can’t tell me what to do.”
“I knew that would be your answer,” she said. “I’m so glad we had this talk, James. I feel so much better.”
“I’m glad too…”
Soon it became obvious to Thomas that he wasn’t the only one trailing James and the girl. On their side of the street, about half a block back, he saw a shadowy figure following them as well. There was a full moon out, so when the figure crossed a street and moved away from the shelter of the buildings, Thomas was able to make out that it was a man and that he appeared to be unarmed. For that reason he did not move to intercept him…not yet anyway.
When they reached the house, Belinda released James’s arm and said, “Don’t come up to the porch. I don’t want to get you into trouble before you’re ready to tell everyone.”
“I’ll wait here until you get inside.”
“James,” she said warningly, “before he went to prison Jeb Collier was a hard man. I don’t know what two years in Yuma Prison have done to him.”
“Probably made him harder,” James said. “Don’t worry, Belinda. He’s not gonna hurt you or your son. I promise.”
“I believe you.”
Impulsively, she kissed him quickly, right at the corner of the mouth, then turned and ran up the walk to the house and let herself in. James turned away, his hand to his face where she’d kissed him. Her sweet perfume was still in his nostrils and he thought he could taste her mouth on his. He was so enthralled that he was taken completely by surprise when he was grabbed from behind.
53
An arm snaked around James’s neck from behind and was tightened with such strength that James could not breathe.
“You stay away from her!” a voice said urgently into his ear.
James couldn’t make a sound and suddenly his feet were not touching the ground and it was as if he were hanging from a gallows. He grabbed at the arm that was strangling him, but it was too large and strong for him to dislodge. Finally, he started to reach for his gun when the man abruptly released him, letting him drop to the ground, and he became aware that someone was talking to him…
Thomas knew he should have stepped in sooner, but there was still no weapon being used. However, he eventually closed the distance between himself and the man who was strangling his brother and jammed his gun into the man’s back.
“Let him go or I’ll blow out your spine!” he hissed.
The man released James, who fell to the ground.
“Just stand still,” he told the man. “James, you okay?”
“Jesus—” James said, getting to his knees. “I couldn’t breathe.”
“I saw that,” Thomas said. “Get to your feet.”
The other man was not making a sound, just standing there. He was a big man, as tall as Thomas, but with more girth. Not as big as their brother Matthew had been, though.
James staggered to his feet and turned to look at his brother and his attacker.
“What the hell—” he said to the man.
“You stay away from Belinda,” the man said, again.
“Let’s take this somewhere else so we don’t attract attention from the house,” Thomas said. “You live in town?”