Free Heartfield Ranch (Communities of Discipline Book 2) by Fiona Wilde Page B

doubtful.
    “Because I think her curiosity is more personal than professional.”
    “Did she tell you this?” Adam asked.
    Clay smiled. “She didn’t have to. I just know.” He sighed. “I’ve asked you guys to trust me before on things, and you have. Usually when I ask you to trust me on something, it has to do with us as a whole. This time I’m asking you to trust me on something I want for purely selfish reasons. I have feelings for this girl and I believe she’s drawn to me, to Heartfield, to what we have to offer. All I ask is that you give her a chance – give me a chance.”
    Jake stepped forward now. “It wasn’t that long ago that I came before you with the same appeal, about Ann Marie. Much of the arguments were the same – she wouldn’t fit in, she didn’t have what it would take, she was too much of an outsider. But I think we’ve all come to realize that my wife is an asset to this community. I vote that we allow Karen Patterson to stay for a trial period.”
    “If it weren’t for Ann Marie, this cop wouldn’t be here,” grumbled Mike.
    “Ann Marie didn’t send for her,” Jake snapped.
    “But trouble followed just the same!” Mike replied.
    The men were squabbling again now and this time Adam stepped up and let out a whistle.
    “This could turn ugly real fast,” he said. “But if we go turning on each other then we might as well pack our bags and go back to the outside world. Now, in Heartfield we’ve taken ourselves out of the larger world, but we’re still part of the world in many ways. We’re going to have to deal with new people coming in, and not one of them is going to be perfect. But if Clay here believes an outsider is the one for him I agree with Jake – he deserves the chance to give this a try. He’s already corrected her and believes she’s open to that and other principles here. As a man of faith I’m inclined to believe life is a journey; maybe Karen’s road led her here for a reason. Who are we to supersede that? I’m with Jake. I vote yes.”
    He raised his hand and slowly others in the audience began to go up. In the end, all but two men – Mike and Ray – had agreed that Karen could stay. But since decisions were preferred to be unamimous, the other men worked on the holdouts until they reluctantly agreed to give Karen a try.
     
    Clay breathed a sigh of relief after the vote, but a nagging concern still gnawed at the pit of his stomach. Were his gut feelings correct? Or were Karen’s signs of tentative acceptance of Heartfield’s ways little more than wishful thinking?

Chapter Ten
     
    “So she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary?” Sheriff Phil Smith furrowed his brow. “Nothing at all?”
    “Not yet.” Capt. Clemmons shook his head.
    “Damn.” The sheriff sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin. Harlan and Melissa Fales weren’t going to like this. He was scheduled to meet with them that very afternoon and had wanted the kind of progress report that would generate hope for them along with a fat check for his campaign coffers.
    He sat up and moved the chair forward, planting his elbows on his desk. “Well you tell Patterson that she needs to keep digging, and digging hard. Folks don’t lock themselves away like those Heartfielders unless they’ve got something to hide.”
    “Not necessarily,” Clemmons responded. “Maybe they just wanted to get out of the rat race.”
    The sheriff glared. “You arguing with me, Clemmons?”
    The captain sighed. “No sir,” he said. “It’s just that…”
    “It’s just nothing.” The sheriff stood and began to pace. “Like I said, people who drop out of society generally do it because they don’t want to follow the rules. Sure, they may start out with some utopian-pie-in-the-sky-peace-and-love goal, but take it from me - sooner or later they get a notion that a compound is a kingdom. Then they start to get paranoid and start stifling freedoms and stockpiling weapons. If that’s happening