The barman set a beer on the bar and Cotton picked it up.
“What did your boys think of Belinda?”
“They have different opinions. How about your wife?”
“She’s afraid Belinda will leave and take Little Matt away with her,” Cotton said.
“So you’ll both just let her get away with playing you along all this time?” Shaye asked.
“Maybe she just did it to feel safe,” Cotton said, “but then, she doesn’t seem to think I can handle Jeb Collier.”
“And his gang,” Shaye reminded him.
“Yeah,” Cotton said, taking a drink from his mug. “And maybe she just needed a woman to take care of the boy, because she couldn’t.”
“And now your wife loves him.”
Cotton wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, “We both do, actually.”
“So I guess we all have some thinking to do on the subject, don’t we?” Shaye asked.
“Drink up, Mr. Shaye,” Cotton said. “The next round will be on me.”
“The name’s Dan.”
35
Eventually, Shaye and Cotton moved to a table in the back and the saloon began to fill up.
“I heard about Collier,” Cotton said at one point.
“I thought you might check with the telegraph clerk.”
“Why’d you think that?” the sheriff asked.
“It’s what I would have done.”
“How many men do you think he’s coming here with?”
“I guess that would depend on how badly he wants Belinda and the boy,” Shaye said. “And if I was him, I’d plan on taking the bank too.”
Cotton rubbed his temples.
“All I’ve got are two young deputies.”
“I’ve only seen one.”
“The other one is part-time.”
“And how much experience have you had with someone like Jeb Collier?” Shaye asked.
“Not much,” Cotton said. “In fact, Belinda may be right about me. I may not be able to handle him.”
Shaye shook his head.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Cotton said. “I’m not going to ask you and your boys to stay and help me. I mean, if you’re convinced that Little Matt is not your grandson, you have no reason to stay.”
“I haven’t made my mind up about that yet.”
“And your sons?”
“They have to make up their own minds.”
Cotton thought a moment, then asked, “Do you think they’d hire on as deputies?”
“Maybe,” Shaye said. “I can’t speak for them.”
“Are they both capable?”
“Very,” Shaye said. “Thomas is the more capable of the two. He’s older, a bit wiser, very good with a gun. He reminds me of me when I was younger.”
“And James?”
“James is more like his mother,” Shaye said. “She had hopes that he’d make something of himself—a doctor, a lawyer.”
“Not a deputy?”
“No. Not a lawman, like his father.”
“Do you miss it?” Cotton asked. “Wearing a badge?”
“That’s something I’m not sure about as well,” Shaye said. “You see? I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.”
“I can imagine.”
“But first,” Shaye said, “there’s the matter of helping you against Jeb Collier and his men.”
“You’d do that? But why?”
Shaye shrugged.
“Once he’s taken care of, my sons and I can take our time making up our minds about the boy,” Shaye said. “This way we’re under the gun—and I hate being under the gun.”
36
Off on his own, Thomas was able to think better. His father had said that he and James had to make up their own minds. That meant he was free to decide what was best for him.
First, he knew his brother Matthew would never have stood a chance against a woman like Belinda—and she was more woman than girl, in his opinion, despite her youth. She was able to handle a man as young as James and a mature man like the sheriff. And, apparently, an outlaw like Jeb Collier. Belinda Davis was a lot wiser than her years.
But going back to Matthew, there was no way he’d father a child with her or have sex with her, not without first discussing it with one of his brothers or his father. Not with their mother, though. He’d never have been able to talk about that with his mother.
So, as far as Thomas was concerned, Belinda was lying in order to get the three Shayes to take care of Jeb Collier and his gang for her. But what was she getting out of it? If she did convince them that her son was Matthew’s son and they protected her against Collier, what then? Would she want to stay with them? Or stay with the sheriff and his wife? Or go off on her own?
And did she have a plan that none of them knew about?
After walking and thinking for an hour, Thomas’s vote was still that Belinda’s baby was not Matthew’s son— and therefore not part of their family. But if there really was a gang coming to Pearl River Junction after her, he didn’t know if he could just leave Sheriff Cotton to handle them when it was clear he would not be able to.
He wished he could just ride out and forget about it, but he couldn’t.
James was convinced that the baby had Shaye blood. He didn’t think Belinda would lie about that. On the other hand was Thomas right about him? Was he influenced by the fact that Belinda was beautiful and his stomach sprouted butterflies whenever he looked at her or spoke to her? And if the baby was Matthew’s, then he was having impure thoughts about the mother of his brother’s child. What did that make him? Disloyal to Matthew’s memory, to say the least.
He knew how Thomas was going to vote, because he knew his older brother stuck to it whenever he made up his mind. He didn’t know how his father would vote, but he thought he knew one thing about both of them. Like him, they’d never be able to leave Pearl River Junction if the sheriff was going to have to deal with a gang of outlaws. James was young and his experience as a lawman was limited, but he knew after meeting the sheriff and talking to him that he’d never be able to stand up to them, not even with two deputies. Just riding out of town and leaving the man to be killed wasn’t an option.
As the saloon filled up with customers, the sheriff decided he had to go back to his office. Shaye agreed to come and see the man there in the morning, to decide what their strategy would be to deal with a gang—if it showed up.
“I hope, when you come to my office, it’s with your sons,” Cotton said, before leaving.
“That’ll be up to them,” Shaye said, “but I’ll see you in the morning.”
After Cotton left, Shaye did some thinking on his own. Whether Belinda’s boy was his grandson or not was going to have to be dealt with later. There was no way he could leave Sheriff Cotton on his own to face the gang,
