Free Loving a Lawman by Amy Lillard

quietly.
    She lifted one shoulder. Like that was any kind of an answer.
    â€œJessie.”
    â€œI’ve been saving a little here and there.”
    â€œA little? There’s over four thousand dollars in this envelope,” he said, smacking it against his thigh. It cracked like a whip.
    She shook her head, refusing to answer.
    â€œJessie,” he started, his quiet voice sounding overloud in the cool shade of the porch. “Why are you letting everybody think that you did it?”
    She shrugged again. “Everyone expected me to do it.”
    He opened his mouth to respond, but she plowed on ahead.
    â€œLet it go, Seth. It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Because soon, I’m gonna have all the money I need to leave this town behind forever.”
    Only his years of police training allowed Seth to hide his surprise. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined a Cattle Creek without Jessie. To him she was as much a part of the town as the longhorn mascot of the high school football team that was painted on the water tower. Always there, true blue.
    â€œYou’re leaving?”
    â€œDid you think I was going to wait around forever?” She shrugged again. “I love him, but I’m not stupid.”
    He had no chance to reply, no chance to give voice to his hope.
    The front door opened. Wesley stood in the threshold looking from him to Jessie and back to him again. Then in typical Wesley fashion, she turned without a word and ran back into the house yelling, “Da-ad! Nana! Aunt Jessie and Uncle Seth are here.”
    Jessie shot Seth one more look, then hustled up the steps and into the house.
    Seth took a deep breath, trying to tamp down the beast that had risen inside him again. Aunt Jessie and Uncle Seth. Like they were a couple, as if they belonged together.
    The creature under control once again, he started after Jessie and Wesley.
    The heels of his boots scraped against the slate stone of the cool, broad portico as Seth crossed to the door of the big house. It wasn’t the first ranch house. The original white clapboard with wraparound porch and squeaky screen door was a quarter of a mile or so down the dusty ranch road. And though it had been good enough for her parents, it was not worthy of JT Langston’s bride, so he’d built her a new house with her own dowry. The Duvalls continued to live in the cozy three-bedroom, and the Langstons resided in the expansive ranch house reinforced with Oklahoma sandstone.
    To Seth, it was home. He loved spacious rooms and tall, cedar-beamed ceilings. It smelled like vanilla and leather and family. There had been so many good times here, both before and after his father died. There had been lots of sad times too. Maybe that was why walking through those big oak doors was like being embraced by every good and honest thing he had ever known. He’d missed it during all his time in San Diego and had rediscovered it when he returned to Texas.
    â€œSeth, is that you?” his mother called to him from the back of the sprawling house.
    â€œIt’s me, Mama.” He took off his hat and started through the spacious living room with its oversize leather furniture, cowhide throw pillows, and brightly pattered Navaho blankets.
    â€œDid you remember the ice cream?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.” He followed the sound of her voice and the delicious smell of sweet birthday cake to the warm, homey kitchen.
    For the most part, the kitchen was open and airy with an earthy terra-cotta tile floor and all the modern conveniences that money could buy. A ristra of dark, wrinkled peppers hung in the corner between the two uncovered windows. One looked out over the ranch yard and the well-worn path to the horse barn. The other had a view of theside yard and the sparkling blue swimming pool Jake had installed as a fiftieth birthday present for their mother.
    â€œI’m glad you’re here. Millie’s been asking about