“Maybe you’ve got some paper on him,” Shaye said. “He either just got out of Yuma or he’s getting out soon.”
“How long was he in?”
“Two years.”
“Not wanted anymore, then, is he?”
“Maybe not,” Shaye said, “but the word I get is that he might be on his way here with a gang.”
“To do what?” Cotton asked. “What was he in for?”
“I don’t know why he was in,” Shaye said, “but maybe you should ask Belinda why he’s coming here.”
“Belinda? What’s she got to do with it?”
“Sheriff,” Shaye said, “she’s the one who told me about Collier.”
Cotton frowned.
“What would her connection be to a man like that?” he asked.
“Well,” Shaye said, “for one thing, he apparently thinks he’s Little Matt’s father.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about?” Cotton demanded. “When do you claim she told you this?”
“After she sent you into the kitchen to make coffee.”
“She didn’t send me—”
“She sent you, Sheriff,” Shaye said. “That little gal has you wrapped around her little finger.”
Cotton bristled at that.
“What are you saying?” he demanded angrily. “I never—”
“I’m not suggesting anything,” Shaye said. “I’m just saying that Belinda hasn’t shown you and your wife her real self. She’s got you wrapped around her finger—maybe like a daughter might—and I’ll bet that baby has won your wife’s heart, hasn’t he?”
Cotton calmed down a bit. “He has, yeah.”
“Let me explain…”
Briefly, Shaye told the lawman everything Belinda had told him during the man’s absence from the room.
“I’m finding this hard to believe,” the lawman said when Shaye finished.
“Look, Sheriff,” Shaye said. “All you have to do is ask her. If you do that, I think she’ll tell you the truth.”
“If she’s afraid of this Collier and his gang, why wouldn’t she just tell me?” he demanded. “Why send for you?”
“I guess you’d have to ask her that,” Shaye said. He decided to leave the man his pride as long as he could.
“And why are you telling me this if she doesn’t want you to?”
“Because I’m not wrapped around her finger,” Shaye said. “And because I’ve been a lawman and I think you need to know if a gang of outlaws is on its way to your town so you can prepare.”
Cotton thought about it for a moment, then pushed his chair back.
“I’m going to have to ask Belinda about this.”
“I know you will,” Shaye said, “but I’m asking you to put it off for a day.”
“Why’s that?”
“Give me and my boys time to settle our business with her,” Shaye said. “After we meet with her tomorrow, you can confront her, but if you do it now she might not let my sons meet the boy.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“Think about it, Sheriff,” Shaye said. “Do you really know the girl?”
Cotton hesitated, then said, “I thought I did.”
29
All four men left the sheriff’s office together, but the Shayes stopped just outside and watched the sheriff walk off toward his house.
“Do you think he’ll confront her now?” James asked.
“I hope not,” Shaye said. “I hope he’ll wait until tomorrow.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Thomas asked. “How can we leave without bein’ dead sure if that kid is Matthew’s?”
“I don’t know if we’ll ever be sure, Thomas,” Shaye said.
“But Pa, if there’s even the smallest chance that he’s part of our family…” James said.
“I know, James,” Shaye said, putting his hand on his youngest son’s shoulder, “I know. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Sheriff Cotton was halfway to his house before he made his decision. There was no harm in waiting one more day and giving Dan Shaye and his sons time to make up their minds about Little Matt.
When he reached the house, he found Marion still holding the baby and Belinda nowhere in evidence.
“What brings you back here so soon?” Marion asked.
“Just wanted to check and see if everyone was all right,” Cotton said. “Where’s Belinda?”
“She went out,” Marion said, “right after you left.”
“Did she say anything to you?”
“No,” Marion said, rubbing the baby’s back. “She just said she had to go out. I assumed she had some thinking to do.”
“I think we all have some thinking to do,” Cotton said.
“What do you mean?”
“I have something to tell you,” Cotton said, “but we can’t act on it right away.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Sit down,” he said, “and I’ll tell you…”
When Belinda left the Cotton house, she hurried into town, hoping that she wouldn’t run into either the sheriff or Dan Shaye. She made her way all the way to the south end of town and when she came to that Y junction in the street she went to the right. Before she reached the livery, she came to a hardware store and entered. The man behind the counter was busy with a customer, so she moved to one side and waited for the customer to finish his business and leave. Hurriedly, she ran to the door and flipped the OPEN side to the CLOSED side and locked the door.
“Belinda—”
The man came from behind the counter and they fell into an embrace, followed by a deep kiss.
“You’re not supposed to come here during the day,” Alvin Simon scolded her.
Simon was in his late twenties and had opened his hardware story only a year before. He and Belinda had met when he first came to town, flirted for a while, and then had become lovers six months ago. But they were determined to keep it a secret from the rest of the town—especially from Riley Cotton and his wife. To that end they rarely, if ever, met during the day, so Simon was surprised to see Belinda in his shop.
“I had to come,” she said. “I just finished talking with Daniel Shaye.”
“And? Has he accepted Little Matt as his grandson?”
“No, not yet,” she said. She moved away from him and clasped her hands together. “He wants his sons to meet me and Matt first.”
“So when will that happen?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Did you tell him about Jeb Collier and his gang?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He never heard of Jeb.”
“I told you,” Simon said. “Nobody has. He’s not such a scary man.” He walked over to her and took her hands. “I told you I can protect you if he shows up.”
She pushed his hands away and said, “No, you can’t. He’d kill you without a second thought.”
“If I’m such a pathetic man,” he complained, “why do you love me?”
