Chapter 5

© Copyright 2014 by Elizabeth Delayne



Crystal was restless after her father left. The peace she’d found at the Foresters had shattered. She’d it would help to go go into town and keep the plans she’d made with the girls. Instead, the first thing she saw was the center of her fear. The wanted poster hung outside of Barton’s store. It was new, the image of the man larger and somehow sharper than the one before. Crystal stopped, caught off guard. They’d raised the reward, she noted, to $15,000. Shatler and his band of outlaws, though it was only his face they drew.

They always drew him from his left side and captured the ugly rough scar that ran down his cheek to his chin. She could still see it, highlighted in the shadows as he’d stepped out on the porch of her house. As he looked at her and left her with that devastating truth.

“Your father dropped off a few of these when he came through town.”

Surprised, Crystal looked over at Jasper Barton, polishing rag in hand. The resigned, almost cantankerous look of age was not gone from his face, and yet there was a gentleness in his voice.

“With the stage running through here, he felt that it would help to have his face available for people to see.”

Crystal’s smile was sad. “I know Shatler’s been through this town, Mr. Barton. And I know what he did to Ms. Rachel and to my—“ she stopped, surprised at how easily the words had nearly come out.

“My father,” she finished. “He changed him.”

He nodded and took a moment to study the wanted poster himself. “I’ve never understood the man. There’s an evil in him I can’t understand.”

The images in her own mind collided and she nodded, unable to speak over the sudden rush of emotion.

Then Jasper Barton surprised her again. With his rag free hand he awkwardly reached out and patted her shoulder. “You’re good for my Jeffrey, if he … or you should ever want such a thing.”

He must have surprised himself because he disappeared quickly into the store. She looked back at the poster, no longer seeing the outlaw, but hearing the words over and over again.

Moments later it was his son who found her.

“Crystal. Is everything all right?” It was Jeff this time.

She shook herself and smiled easily this time. What could she say? She couldn’t process the truth even for herself—that his father had … what? Given his blessing for something that had not even happened or may never happen?

“These wanted posters are all over town now,” Jeff murmured even though his eyes were on her.

“I was just considering making one of my own. For Lauren,” she told him. “I was looking for her. She was supposed to meet me so we could help Lila with a cooking lesson.”

“Lila Canon’s going to cook?”

“Maybe if you gave Lila a chance she would be more than the … property of the bank.”

“What?” there was surprise in Jeff’s eyes. “You want me to give Lila Canon a chance?”

“What?” she mirrored his surprise. “No. I just … she’s my friend, Jeffrey Barton. I’m not going to doubt her.”

“But I thought… I was …”

And then, like his father, he was gone.

Crystal nearly stamped her foot. Of course the man had jumped to the wrong conclusions. Now he thought she wanted him to give Lila a chance.

Foolish, foolish … me. *



“I’m just saying its not like you,” Lila repeated as she stood behind Lauren and Crystal in the Peterson’s kitchen, but she was focusing more on Lauren than the process. They had only just laid out the ingredients, but none of them seem interested.

“You have never been one to take long walks out of town or forget that we’ve made plans.”

“I didn’t forget,” Lauren returned as Crystal reached over and picked up the knife Lauren had set aside without using. She gritted her teeth. First Jeff and now this.

“And maybe I should have always been one to take long walks. Maybe that is my problem.”

“No, your problem is you have an amazing man courting you and you’re ignoring him.”

Lauren spun around to face her friend. “If you want him so badly, than you can have him Lila Canon. Matthew Forester has never asked to court me. He assumed. You assumed. My mother assumes that she knows better anyway and that there is someone besides Matthew. Everyone has assumed.”

“Including you,” Lila steamed. “Lauren are you even listening to yourself? You have always talked about Matthew and your life together.”

“I was a child. I didn’t know what I wanted.”

“And you’re not acting like a child now?”

Crystal slapped the knife down and spun around. “Neither one of you showed up to meet me. You both say you forgot. My father left town two nights ago and I was looking forward to an afternoon where I didn’t have to think about him or remember my mother. Then Mr. Barton … and Jeffery Barton just thought I meant … and now you—you have a great life, Lauren. You have an amazing family and Matthew doesn’t know if he’s coming or going with you. And all you can do is complain about it and him and about how you’re growing up. My mother was murdered by a madman and—“

Horrified she stopped, barely registering the shock on her friend’s faces. Her mother had died of an illness. Her mother had died of an illness. That was what she was supposed to say.

She spun around, blindly grabbing at her belongings.

“Crystal, wait—“ it was Lila that moved to stop her.

“No, I need to find—Rachel will be waiting for me.”

“You have another hour at least,” Lila moved quickly and blocked Crystal’s path to the door. “Crystal, you can’t just leave like this. It’s us. You can talk to us.”

“I can’t. I shouldn’t have. I promised my mother and—“ Crystal looked toward Lauren. “Your parents could come home any time.”

Lauren looked first toward Lila. “When my parents go on one of their visits, they stick to the plan. Even if they know a blizzard is heading their way. Trust me. No one will bother us.”


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