Frankly, they sounded like a bunch of bullies to Emma Jane. The same kind of tormentors who’d mocked her in church, whispering behind their fans, whether it be about her family’s debts, her father’s gambling and public intoxication, her patched dresses or, now, her hasty forced marriage.
“So you would let them continue to control you,” Emma Jane said quietly, realizing as the words came out that she needed to hear them just as much as Nancy. She had wasted far too much time cowering the way her friend was doing.
And nothing in her life had gotten better.
She looked over at Jasper, who gave her a slow nod.As if he...approved of her. Emma Jane swallowed. “I don’t want to put you in danger, Nancy. I don’t want to be in danger. But if we run in fear from this gang, these bullies, then we will always have to run.”
She turned her attention to Jasper. “I’ll do everything I can to help you stop them.”
Emma Jane had spent her whole life trying to make herself agreeable enough to get people to like her. To get her mother to approve of her. And now, as she was encouraging Nancy to stand up to the bullies, she found that she could no longer do it.
She wanted Jasper to like her, to be her friend, so that somehow their marriage could have a reasonable sort of existence. But he needed to learn to like her for who she was, not the agreeable persona she tried to adopt.
Perhaps the biggest bully, the worst enemy, was not the threat of this gang plaguing the town. Rather, it was the ever-increasing pressure to fit in a mold that simply wasn’t her.
So what did that mean for her marriage?
Chapter Six
“I’m sorry I couldn’t have been of more help,” Emma Jane said quietly as she slipped her hand into his arm.
“It’s all right.” He patted her arm softly, looking around the barn at all the women milling around.
Why, after all this time, had none of the other deputies come to talk to these women?
Then he spied Will in a corner, talking to a figure in the shadows. Of course his buddy would be here.
“No, it’s not all right,” Emma Jane huffed, pulling her hand away, then turning to stop in front of him and face him. “Why won’t she help us? Doesn’t she see that, either way, we’re all in trouble?”
She looked so earnest, and in that innocent expression, he finally understood why all the lawmen in town didn’t respect Jasper’s intentions to rescue Daisy and stop the gang. The answers to her questions were not that simple. And, unfortunately, Emma Jane’s passionate desire for justice meant that she was more apt to go into a situation hotheaded without thinking it through.
He glanced in Will’s direction. Had his friend ever tried telling him those things? Would he have listened?
So how did he get Emma Jane to listen?
“You’re right,” he told her honestly. “It’s not all right. But Nancy is also right. I don’t want to needlessly put anyone else in danger. So what do I do?”
Emma Jane looked confused. She shifted her position slightly, glancing around before bringing her attention back to him. “I don’t know. But I feel like I have to do something. I’ve just...”
She turned her attention to the ground, for all the fascination that dirt might hold.
“I’ve not had much experience in standing up to bullies before.”
Which is when it hit him. Harder than any bullet that he feared.
He’d seen the way the other women in town picked on Emma Jane. Flora Montgomery in particular seemed to take great pleasure in tormenting his wife. How many times had he told the other woman to be nice?
This wasn’t just about the gang that had Daisy in their clutches, but Emma Jane learning to stand up to people like Flora Montgomery.
She was using chasing down the gang as her line in the sand.
Except the two situations were not the same.
Flora Montgomery wasn’t going to cause Emma Jane bodily harm. But this gang would.
“I’ll help you stand up to the bullies.” Jasper took both of her hands in his. “But I need you to help me, as well.”
Those deep blue eyes of hers locked on to his. The little flecks of brown mesmerized him, as they always did when he took time to notice.
Hopefully, the expression meant that she’d trust him.
“I think we’ve already determined that I’m not cut out for being a lawman,” Emma Jane said, kicking at a small rock on the ground.
“Hey.” He pulled one of his hands out of hers, then used it to lift her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes once again. “You may not make a great lawman. But you have many other fine qualities. And I look forward to discovering each and every one of them.”
“But I want to help. And I feel completely powerless to do so.”
“Then do as I asked you. Stay out of it, and if you see or hear something in your work, let me know, but don’t try and do anything about it yourself.”
Truthfully, he wasn’t giving her any power. But he hoped that she knew that he saw...well, he didn’t even know what he saw. Potential, maybe? He knew as little of Emma Jane as she knew of him.
Yet the more he learned of her, the more he realized that there was a greater level of goodness in her than he’d originally suspected. But how did he balance that with the questions he did have of her character? That was the trouble with trusting someone you barely knew. As much as he wanted to believe in Emma Jane wholeheartedly, he didn’t know enough about her to know if he could trust her.
What was Emma Jane’s true plan here?
The fear and uncertainty in her eyes, it looked a lot like she did
