A Match for the Sheriff
Autor
Lisa Childs
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16,1K
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24
HarlequinCHAPTER ONE
THE OLD DESK chair creaked as Sheriff Cassidy leaned back and stared down at the lighter that lay cupped in the palm of his hand. Two horseshoes, turned on their sides to represent the initials CC, were engraved in the pewter, which was old and soot stained. Irony struck him that the lighter was in his possession now, since he was the only one of his brothers not to have those initials. Unlike his older brother, Cash, and his younger brothers, twins Colton and Collin, Marsh had been named after an uncle he hadn’t even known existed until recently. Michael March Cassidy was his full name, but Cash’s pronunciation of it, as a toddler, had stuck: Marsh. So that was what everyone called him now.
“Marsh?”
He glanced up to find his brother Cash standing in the doorway to his office. Whereas Marsh and the twins were dark haired and dark eyed, Cash was blond and blue-eyed. Now they all knew why: they didn’t have the same biological father. But they did have the same real father, the man who’d lovingly raised them all. JJ Cassidy. Despite how much he loved them, or maybe because of how much he loved them, he’d also kept some secrets from them. Like his real name. He wasn’t really JJ Cassidy; he was Jessup Haven.
If only Marsh could be certain that there were no more secrets that his dad or anyone else was keeping from him...
But since he’d gone into law enforcement, people often lied to him to protect themselves or people they cared about. He knew that, and he usually could tell when people were lying and figure out the truth. But this time...
“Hey, you’re giving me that interrogation-room stare again.” Cash held up his hands as if Marsh had drawn his weapon on him. “I swear I don’t know anything about how my lighter got into the house. I absolutely did not burn down our childhood home.”
Marsh believed him, but he wasn’t certain that he should. Cash had spent nearly two decades estranged from the family. When he’d learned, as a hotheaded teenager, that his parents hadn’t told the truth about his paternity, Cash had taken off. But now that they’d all reconciled, it felt as if they’d spent no time apart. Like they were as close as they’d always been.
Or maybe that was just the way that Marsh wanted it to feel. He wanted his family to be together and happy. And they were now.
But for this.
For wondering how their old childhood home had burned down six weeks ago and who was responsible for starting the fire. Colton, the firefighter, had found the lighter in the cellar of the burned house and, knowing it was Cash’s, had been hanging onto it before he’d recently turned it over to Marsh.
“No, I don’t think you did it,” Marsh said.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, I think,” Cash said. “But I wish that you knew for certain that I didn’t.”
Marsh sighed. “I’m not even sure something really happened. The Moss Valley Fire Department initially determined that it was because of poor maintenance of the property.” He flinched with guilt at the thought of how the ranch had become run down while he and his brothers had all been so busy. He’d gone to college for criminal justice and started his career in law enforcement. Collin had gone for medicine and had become a cardiologist. Colton had been fighting fires and working as a paramedic for years, while Cash had just been gone.
Cash flinched, too, as if the thought and the guilt had crossed his mind as well. “I’m sorry...”
“Even those of us who were there couldn’t keep up with school, then our jobs, as well as helping with Dad’s doctor and hospital bills, not to mention all of his appointments and in-patient stays. Darlene did her best to take care of him and the ranch.” He didn’t know what they would have done without the woman they’d thought was their late mother’s friend but was actually their aunt, the widow of the uncle they hadn’t known they had.
“So, the fire could have been an accident,” Cash suggested, his upbeat tone hopeful.
Marsh shrugged. He didn’t know, but even though he’d left his job as a deputy in Moss Valley, and therefore the jurisdiction, to accept the interim sheriff position in nearby Willow Creek, Wyoming, he was determined to find out the truth. No more secrets.
“And if it was an accident, then the lighter had nothing to do with starting the fire,” Marsh continued. That was what he wanted to believe—that it was just an accident. But he wouldn’t be able to put his doubts to rest until he had proof.
“I hope it didn’t start the fire,” Cash said. “Because then it is my fault for losing it.”
“But you weren’t the one who used it,” Marsh said. Someone else would have, if it had actually started the fire. But who? And why? “And even if they hadn’t found your lighter, they probably would have found something else to start the fire, assuming it wasn’t just an accident. But until I know for certain what happened, I can’t give the lighter back to you.”
“I’m not here for the lighter,” Cash said. “And if it is what someone used to start the fire, I don’t ever want it back.”
It was a family heirloom. Their maternal grandfather’s lighter. But they’d never met him or their maternal grandmother. They’d thought their paternal grandparents had died before they were born, too, but then they’d learned the truth.
Their paternal grandfather was gone, and that uncle, their father’s brother, for whom Marsh had been named had passed away years ago, too. Just before Marsh and his brothers had learned they were really Havens, they’d also lost a cousin, when he and his wife had died in a tragic auto accident.
But they all suspected that cousin was still with them, in the heart transplanted into their father after years of a debilitating illness had destroyed his. Thanks to that heart, their father was the healthiest he’d ever been, and since Cash was back, he was happy again, too. He hadn’t been happy in so long.
“Why are you here?” Marsh asked, and he tensed a bit with concern. “Any reason you need to be at the sheriff’s office?” Had something happened?
Cash chuckled. “Like I said, I’m not turning myself in for something I didn’t do. I’m here to ask the sheriff for help with something, though.”
Marsh narrowed his eyes. “Help with what?”
He had never met anyone as independent as his older brother. But then Cash had always had Becca, so maybe he wasn’t as independent as Marsh had always thought he was. Cash was finally taking his friendship with Becca to the next level; just a couple of days ago, he had proposed to her.
“Help getting married,” Cash said. “I’m here to ask you to be my best man.”
Marsh had to blink hard for a second before he could focus on his brother’s face. Squashing down the emotions threatening him, as he usually did, Marsh grinned and said, “Of course I’m your second choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can’t ask your real best friend since she’s the one you’re marrying,” Marsh pointed out.
“Becca is my best friend,” Cash agreed. “I’m asking you to be my best man.”
“Dad is the best man I know,” Marsh said.
Cash blinked hard now and nodded. “He is the best man I know, too. But you’re a pretty close second, Marsh.”
“I’ve always been second,” Marsh said. “But that was to you.” He was just teasing him; that was something that he had never minded. He’d idolized his big brother.
Cash shook his head. “You were never second to me.”
“I’m two years younger than you,” Marsh reminded him.
“And yet, we sometimes felt closer than the twins were to each other.”
“Until you left,” Marsh murmured with a pang as he remembered how hurt he’d been when Cash had left, how alone he’d felt. The twins had had each other, and Darlene had been there to help their dad. But Marsh...
He’d been alone then. Like he was alone now. All his brothers had found the loves of their lives, or in Cash’s case, finally realized his best friend was his soul mate. But Marsh was still alone.
That was the way he wanted it, though. He was used to being alone; he preferred it. That way, he couldn’t lose anyone else close to him like he’d lost his mom to cancer, and like he’d nearly lost his dad so many times, and then he’d lost Cash, too, for nearly twenty years. But Cash had attended the college that he’d had a scholarship for, and he had become a veterinarian just as he’d planned. Then, after traveling for a while as a rodeo vet, he’d settled close to home in nearby Willow Creek, near family that they hadn’t even known they had—all the Havens.
“I’m sorry,” Cash said, his voice gruff with regret over leaving.
Marsh sighed and shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. And I won’t bring it up again. I know we can’t change the past.”
“I wish I could,” Cash said, his blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I wish I’d been there for you and Dad and the twins, and most of all, that I’d realized how I felt about Becca. I wasted so much time.”
Despite being uneasy with emotion, Marsh stood up and hugged his brother. Then he pulled back and asked, “You know how to make up for that?”
Cash shook his head.
“Make the most of the time we have now.”
“So, you’ll be my best man?”
Marsh grinned and lightly slapped his brother’s back. “Yes, I will.”
“And then when it’s your turn to get married, I’ll be yours if you want me,” Cash said.
Marsh snorted. “It’s never going to be my turn.”
“Yeah, that’s what a lot of our cousins and even our own brothers said, and then Grandma Sadie got a hold of them,” Cash noted with obvious affection.
She wasn’t his biological grandparent, but she had claimed Cash as her grandson. Maybe because they were so much alike: both stubborn.
Marsh shook his head. “Not going to happen.”
“She’s got a great track record as a matchmaker,” Cash said.
“And if she wants to keep her streak alive, she’s going to have to focus on someone else,” Marsh said. “I’m never getting married.”
“Ah...famous last words...” Cash teased.
At least, Marsh hoped he was teasing. But before he could make sure his brother understood that this best man thing was definitely going to be one-sided, his phone rang. Once his caller identified himself, Marsh waved his brother off. Cash left with a grin and a mouthed thank you.
“Sheriff Poelman,” Marsh greeted his old boss from Moss Valley. “It’s great to hear from you.”
“No, you’re not hearing from me,” Poelman replied. “I never made this call. You know nothing about this.”
Marsh let out a chuckle. Poelman wasn’t as old as Marsh’s grandmother and her new husband, but he was a lot like them in that he was quite the character. “Well, that’s certainly true,” Marsh agreed. “I have no idea what this is about.”
“The fire.”
Marsh’s amusement turned to apprehension. “What about the fire?”
“The insurance company isn’t accepting the fire investigator’s determination on cause,” Poelman said. “They want us to investigate.”
“What? Why?” Marsh asked, and he closed his hand over the lighter, hiding it from sight as if Poelman could see through the phone line.
“For some reason, the adjuster has it in his head that it’s arson,” Poelman said. “I just wanted to give you a heads up. Your family has already been through so much.”
“So, are you going to...?” Marsh couldn’t bring himself to finish the question.
“Investigate?” Poelman’s sigh rattled the phone. “We’ll go over it all with the fire department, make sure there’s nothing they missed.”
Marsh tightened his hand around that lighter. “Well, uh, thank you for—”
“For nothing,” Poelman interrupted. “This case isn’t in your jurisdiction, and your family could be involved, so this call never happened.” He chuckled then hung up.
With the way Poelman was joking around, he didn’t seem to be taking the insurance company’s request too seriously, but he was still a good lawman. He would investigate. And what would he find?
Marsh curled his fingers and stared down at the lighter in his palm. He couldn’t hide it forever. He was going to have to turn over the lighter, but with the initial determination being that poor maintenance caused the fire, the lighter had nothing to do with anything. It was just like any other possession in the house. So hanging onto it wasn’t breaking any laws. But, like Poelman had just pointed out, Marsh couldn’t be part of the investigation because it was family and out of his jurisdiction, too.
But neither of those reasons was going to stop him from investigating. He had to learn the truth no matter what it was, just as he hoped his brother understood he’d spoken the truth. While he would be Cash’s best man, his brother would never be his...because he was never getting married.
SARAH REYNOLDS NEVER should have gotten married. She’d been too young and naive to realize that what she’d felt for her high school boyfriend had been puppy love and friendship and not the real thing. Despite her parents’ objections, she’d married him anyway and had realized too late the mistake she’d made. But she knew now, because of her child, what real love was.
She loved her son so much. And if she hadn’t married his father, she wouldn’t have six-year-old Mikey now. So, as humiliating and painful as the end of her marriage had been, it’d also been worth it.
Mikey was worth every moment of pain she’d suffered and every sacrifice she’d had to make. But ever since the fire at the Cassidy ranch, he hadn’t been himself. She’d tried to find out why—if the fire had scared him, or he was upset about leaving the ranch. But he kept shutting her down every time she asked.
She was so worried about him and about their future, but she couldn’t let him, or anyone else, see that concern. So she stayed up after everyone else had gone to bed in the house that her patient, JJ Cassidy, had rented in the town of Willow Creek after his ranch in Moss Valley had burned down. She sat alone on the back deck and let the tears of exhaustion and worry roll down her face.
During the day, for Mikey’s sake and everyone else’s, she hid her fears behind a bright smile. But at night...she felt so alone. And so scared...
She’d been working as a home health nurse for JJ for nearly seven months now, two months prior to his heart transplant and now five months after it. He didn’t need her help any longer. He’d had no issues with rejection; his body had readily accepted the new heart as if it had always been his. Or maybe a part of him...if it had once truly belonged to his nephew.
JJ was healthier and happier than he’d been since she’d met him. From what she’d heard about his family tragedies, he probably hadn’t been happy for a very long time. He was such a kind man—his entire family was—that she wanted to stay, but she felt like she was already taking advantage of his new heart, which was as compassionate as his old one. Maybe that was how he’d worn it out. Maybe loving too much and too generously had worn it out and not the lupus that had ravaged his body.
She uttered a shaky sigh. That romanticism had gotten her in trouble her entire life just as her no-nonsense father had warned her it would. He’d been right, but she wasn’t about to admit that to him. Even after her marriage had ended, she’d refused to go back home and had worked hard to support herself and her son.
She’d figured it out then, and she would figure it out now. There was just one thing that she was afraid to figure out: how the fire, which had burned down the ranch, had really started. She’d thought it was an accident, but JJ was still waiting for his insurance company to settle the claim. For some reason, they were hesitating or still investigating. Why?
Because they suspected there was more to it? She wondered...
“I didn’t realize anyone was out here,” a deep voice rumbled.
Sarah jumped and nearly let out a scream despite recognizing that voice. Or maybe because she recognized it. She turned her head to find Sheriff Cassidy standing behind her, wearing the white hat he’d worn even before he’d gone into law enforcement. Not that she’d known him then. She’d just seen the pictures of him when he was a kid. Those pictures, those memories, were all gone now, just like the house where he’d grown up.
She was afraid that she might be at least partially responsible for that loss. Was it something she’d done—or hadn’t done—that had caused the fire? If it was, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself, let alone expect him to forgive her.
IF ANYONE HAD told Sadie March Haven, now Lemmen, that she would be this happy again, she would have called them a fool. Would’ve said it wasn’t possible, not after all the losses she’d suffered in the eighty years she’d been alive.
Lem, her new husband, had suffered some losses, too, so he understood. He understood her better than even her first husband had, and it wasn’t just because they’d known each other since they were kids. While they shared so many of the same memories and experiences from life, they also shared something deeper, a connection that she’d never had with anyone else, as if they shared a soul, or at least a heart.
So she could feel the turmoil inside him that she felt herself. But her happiness wasn’t dimmed at all. This was just a part of life—at least, a part of theirs. They loved so many people, and when those people were upset, they were, too.
She smiled as Lem poured some milk that he’d warmed in the microwave into her mug. She sat at the long stainless-steel-topped island in the enormous kitchen of the ranch house. Usually Taye, Sadie’s youngest grandson’s fiancée and also the cook Sadie had hired to help out after the tragic accident, was behind that counter, taking care of everyone.
But Lem was taking care of Sadie now, just as she took care of him. Even though she was sitting on one of the stools and he was standing, she was still a bit taller than him. She was six feet, or she used to be, and he was probably closer to five. With his pure white hair and beard and sparkling blue eyes, he looked a lot like Santa Claus, which was why he’d been playing him every holiday season in the town square of Willow Creek.
Since marrying him a couple of weeks ago, Sadie felt as if every day was Christmas. She reached across the island and covered his left hand with hers. Her hand was bigger, her knuckles swollen with arthritis. They’d chosen tattoos instead of rings, and the infinity symbol wrapped around their ring fingers.
Lem turned his hand over and entwined their fingers. “If we want to sleep, we should probably skip the sugar.”
But he’d set out a plate of cookies anyway. Snickerdoodles. Her favorite. Taye baked them perfectly every time, so they were kind of crunchy on the outside and perfectly soft inside. With her right hand, Sadie picked up a big one and took a bite. Cinnamon and nutmeg exploded on her taste buds, and she couldn’t help but murmur, “Mmmmm.”
Lem grinned. “Is Caleb right? Do cookies make everything better?”
She grinned, too. Five-year-old Caleb was one of the great-grandchildren new to their family, but it felt as if the young boy had been forever a part of it, and of her. Just as Lem had been. “You tell me,” she said.
Lem hadn’t touched the cookies or the warm milk he’d poured into his mug after pouring hers. A call from his oldest grandson had awakened them and their little long-haired Chihuahua earlier. While Feisty had fallen back asleep, they hadn’t been able to.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes, I’m just not sure if giving Brett what he asked for was enough or if I should do more...”
“And if you do more, you’ll be accused of meddling,” she finished for him. They often finished each other’s sentences and thoughts. She sighed again but with regret, not bliss. “I’m sorry. That’s my fault. I’m pretty sure that my grandsons warned yours at our wedding about my...”
“Penchant for matchmaking,” he said. “It was my grandsons’ father who warned them about my penchant for being overly involved, as Bob says, in the lives of my family.”
It was one of the many things they had in common, loving their families so much that they wanted the best for them. They wanted them to be happy and healthy. But wanting that too much had driven away Sadie’s oldest son, so she’d learned to step back when it was necessary. Or so she hoped.
“You gave Brett the phone numbers he asked for, for Ben and for Genevieve.” Ben was the mayor of Willow Creek, but he was also a lawyer, like Genevieve, who had recently married one of Sadie’s other grandsons, Dr. Collin Cassidy. Brett, Lem’s grandson, needed legal advice. After the wedding, he and his two brothers had returned to the ranch they ran in nearby Hidden Hollow to turmoil and tragedy; their boss and friend had passed away while they were gone. “But we can go to Hidden Hollow, if you want to personally check on them,” she said.
Lem sighed then took a long sip of the now cooled milk. “I think we should wait, at least until I find out what Ben has to say.” As well as now being his grandson, Ben was Lem’s friend and his boss. Ben was the mayor, and Lem was the deputy mayor. Roles they’d served in reverse before.
Just as Ben had turned Sadie’s matchmaking back on her when he’d started bringing Lem around the ranch. That stinker...
She smiled with affection.
“What about your text?” Lem asked.
And her smile slid away. When Brett’s call had awakened them, Sadie had automatically reached for her cell as well, and she’d seen the text Marsh had sent her: We need to talk.
That message filled her with dread because it usually did not mean they needed to talk about good things. But there had been more to it, something that brought her smile back now: Love you, Grandma.
Marsh was such a good man. With his sense of honor and his calm demeanor, he was so much like the man after whom he’d been named, his uncle, her younger son Michael. The two of them never having the chance to meet was yet another tragedy.
Marsh’s text hadn’t been the only one she’d found on her cell. Jessup had sent her one as well, with nearly the same message about needing to talk.
“If you’re worried, you should just call them now,” Lem advised her. “Then maybe you’ll be able to sleep.”
She was more worried about Lem and her new step-grandsons than she was about her son and Marsh. She sighed again. “I’m sure they both just want to warn me not to subject Marsh to any of my matchmaking.” She shrugged, just like she would shrug off their warnings.
They had to see how happy the rest of their family was now. Marsh’s brothers, Jessup’s sons, had found the loves of their lives, or in Cash’s case, realized his best friend was his soul mate. Marsh’s cousins, Jessup’s nephews, were all happy now, too, despite their recent loss.
So were she and Lem.
They’d all found love and happiness. That was all she wanted for Marsh and for Jessup. Now she just had to figure out how to make them want that for themselves.
