Free Mistletoe Mayhem: Clean Historical Western Cowboy Romance Novel (Dawson Chronicles Book 1) by Linda Bridey Page A

“That’s right.”
    They grew quiet a moment and Devon said, “I went to see Sawyer today.  I asked Cora to make some cookies to take to him.”
    “You did?” Lacey asked.
    “How did it go?” Lacey asked.
    “Terrible.  He’s still angry with me.  I don’t know why I went.  I shouldn’t have.  We fought again.  Why can’t I just let it alone?”
    Lacey said, “I think you know the answer to that, honey.”
    Devon groaned.  “I don’t want to love him.  I want to be over him so I can move on.”
    Joe sighed and rubbed her arm.  “That’s the problem with you kids growing up.  I kept tellin’ y’all to stay little, but none of you would listen to me.  Now here you are, all grown up, and I can’t kiss away the hurt like I could when you were little and had a booboo.  If I could, I would.  Now, I don’t mean to pry, but it sounds like you’re not in love with Teddy.”
    “No, I’m not,” she said.  “I like spending time with him.  He’s so funny and he treats me really well.  He’s very handsome and gentlemanly and I sound like I’m talking about one of my brothers, don’t I?” Devon asked.
    “I didn’t wanna say it, but it kinda does,” Joe said, smiling slightly.
    Devon hid her face against Joe’s chest.  “How am I going to tell him?”
    “Tell who what?” Joe asked.  “Teddy that you can’t see him anymore or Sawyer that you still love him?”
    Devon raised her head quickly.  “Teddy that I can’t keep seeing him.  I’ll never tell Sawyer that I still love him.  I can’t.  It won’t make a difference in how he feels about me.  He hates me now and I don’t blame him.”
    Lacey said, “I doubt he hates you, sweetie.”
    “It sure seems like it.  I deserve it, too.  He said I was selfish, and he’s right.”
    Joe said, “You’re not selfish.  What makes you say that?  You know, you’ve never told us what happened between you two.  You just kept saying that you were fighting all the time and that you couldn’t come to an agreement.  What about?”
    Devon told them, feeling more ashamed with every word that passed over her lips.  Her face was hot from it and her eyes burned with unshed tears.  “So you see, I’m a horrible, selfish person because I wasn’t strong enough to marry him knowing that he would leave soon after we did.  We would’ve just been starting our life together and then he’d leave me behind.  I would be left here brokenhearted and I was brokenhearted anyway.  I’m such an idiot.”
    Joe and Lacey exchanged a sympathetic look over her head as Joe hugged her.  “Well, sweetheart, sometimes fear makes us do things that aren’t very smart.  You’re not a horrible person, Devon.  Anger and fear don’t help people make good decisions, even when we think we’re doing the right thing at the time.  See, when I went to Texas to confront Daddy, I wanted revenge, but I also wanted to make him leave me alone so that I knew that Lacey would be safe.  I wanted to do it in person, not in a letter that he could just throw away.
    “No, I wanted to look him in the eye and let him know that I knew what he’d done and that if he ever tried anything like that again, I really would put a bullet in him.  I thought I was doing right, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Lucky for me, your mama forgave me, though.  I bet Sawyer might, too.”
    Devon shook her head.  “No, he won’t.  He’s never going to trust me again.  There’s a chance that he might go back oversees, so he’d never—”
    Lacey put a hand on her leg.  “Honey, do you love him enough to try?  It’ll take time, but if you really want him back, it’ll be worth it.  Even if it doesn’t work out, you’ll know that you did everything you could and didn’t give up easily.”
    Her mother made sense, but Devon didn’t know if she could take that risk.  “Daddy would you have ever given up?”
    “Not a chance, but I can’t say what’s right for