“Is he dead?” the woman asked in an oddly calm tone.
“Yes ma’am,” Lizzie said, quietly. “I didn’t…”
“Of course, you didn’t, child,” she said kindly. “Do you have any clothes you can put on?”
“No ma’am. The sheriff took me when I was bathing. My husband,” she was able to stop the term from being plural, “and I thought the valley was safe from prying eyes.”
The sheriff’s wife laughed nervously. “Few could hide from his prying eyes, and he often paid to watch. Let’s see if we can’t get you clothed.”
She walked outside the cave and stopped, backing in slowly.
“Lizzie?” she heard Caelan.
“Cae!” she cried as he rushed past the sheriff’s wife and enfolded herself in his arms.
She clung to him, sobbing, all the fear and disgust draining out of her as her tears fell on his broad chest.
“Shh, Lizzie; Gavan and I are here. Can ye stop crying long enough to tell me what happened, and if yer all right?”
She nodded. “He grabbed me at the creek… I should have stayed where Gavan said. The sheriff tied me up…made me…no, I got on my knees…”
Gavan joined them, the sheriff’s widow in tow.
He wrapped his arm around her. “Ye did what ye had to do, Lizzie. Ye stayed alive. I’m so proud of ye.”
“Aye, yer a brave lass. I didna know many who could have kept their wits around them and done that. I have the things I bought in town, just until we can get something else,” said Caelan.
“No, Cae, I was such a bitch this morning. I’m so sorry. It doesn’t matter where it came from, it matters that you got it for me.”
Caelan left them for a few moments and brought Lizzie something to change into.
Once Lizzie was dressed, Gavan handed the sheriff’s widow to Caelan and wrapped the sheriff’s body in tattered blanket he’d used to kidnap her.
“So what are we going to do with ye?” Caelan asked the widow.
“I murdered my husband. I’ll have to pay for my crime.” She reached out and squeezed Lizzie’s arm. “I am so sorry for what you had to do. He was a deviant monster. I should have killed him long ago.”
“From where we stand, Mrs. Gutherie…”
“Sally, please.”
“Sally,” Gavan corrected, “Ye saved our Lizzie, and that cancels anything ye did before, and puts us in your debt.”
“So, the rumors about Bridgewater are true? Each wife has more than one husband?”
“Yes, I am proud to call both Caelan and Gavan my husbands. No woman was ever so lucky as to have two men as good and honorable as them to love and care for her.”
Sally Gutherie shook her head. “I cannot even imagine. I was married to that bastard for almost twenty years. I could never have said that he loved, or cared for me, much less both. And certainly, neither good, nor honorable. You’re right Mrs…oh, dear, what do I call you?”
“Eliz…” started Caelan.
“Lizzie,” she interrupted him with a grin. “I’m called Lizzie now.”
Sally Gutherie smiled. “Lizzie, then. I suppose one of your husbands had best take me back. We can keep your name out of it to avoid the scandal.”
“He planned to rape her. There is no scandal to attach to Lizzie. In fact, like Gav said, ye saved her life. Ye’ve family in town, do ye not?”
“I do…”
“Then, ye go back into town and leave the rest to us. Yer husband had plenty of enemies. We’ll make it look like he was ambushed. If burying him is important to ye—”
“His corpse can rot and feed the vultures for all I care,” Sally said, vehemently.
“In that case, we’ll stage the body where it’ll be found, and that’ll be the end of it. Ye go on back to town and make sure people see ye. We’ll have each other as alibis.”
“But won’t they be able to tell it was a small gun from the hole in his head?” Sally asked, her eyes shifting around the cavern as if she was afraid someone would overhear.
“We can fix that, Sally. We’ll just make it look like a larger gun was used. How long will it take you to get home and be baking bread, or something?”
“A few hours…”
“Then, we’ll set up the scene and let it take its own natural course. Ye didna worry yerself. Caelan and I will take care of it.”
“I can help,” offered Lizzie.
“Nay, lass, ye’ll stay out of it and will be with one of us at all times.”
“I think I should tell them I shot him and not involve any of you,” said Sally.
“There’s no need to risk it. And, if ye tell them the whole truth, as ye say, they might try to blame Lizzie. Nay, Sally, yer late husband was a bastard of the first order and deserved to die. Ye did the world a favor, and as Gav said, ye saved Lizzie. We are beholden to ye and will make this right for ye.”
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“My husbands don’t lie. I’ll never forget what you did for me, ever. I’m just sorry you had to live with him.”
Lizzie took Sally’s hand and walked her out to her horse.
Sally mounted and then looked down at her. “When I first heard about Bridgewater, I thought how awful it must be to have to marry two men and provide them with sexual congress, but you seem not to mind. Is it because they saved you from the noose?” Sally closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m so sorry. That was incredibly thoughtless and inappropriate of me.”
Lizzie grinned. “I wasn’t too happy about it at first either but now, even after so short a time, it just seems normal. Gavan is the stern one, and I know, if I misbehave, he will correct me. Caelan is gentler but, if he has to spank me, he has a wicked hand. Once I’ve been punished, then I am forgiven. But, every night, I fall asleep in
