They seemed surprised, and she didn’t understand what they were feeling. Surely, they wanted her to leave.
“I’m sure you don’t want me around you any longer, now that you know what I’ve done,” she said, feeling the tears welling in her eyes. This last week had been the happiest she’d experienced in months and it was killing her that it was coming to an end.
These men made her happy.
“You did what you had to to protect yourself,” Jesse said. “Just like we ran those men out of town tonight. We’ve told you from the first that we would never hurt you and we won’t, and we will not let any man here in town stay that hurts a woman.”
A sliver of hope filled her. “So you’re not angry with me for killing a man?”
She stared at the two men she felt safe with.
“No, we’re not angry with you. I wish you would have told us sooner because someone knows what happened that night,” Jesse said.
“What if it’s the law?” she said, thinking she would soon hang. The life she had finally found that made her happy would now end with her swinging from a noose.
“Are you certain he was dead?” Andrew asked. “Someone knows something happened. The law would not act this way. They would just come and get you.”
Surely, Frank had not survived the stab wounds.
“Did you check to see if his heart was still beating?” Jesse asked.
“No, I didn’t want to get close. I was afraid he would reach out and grab me and then I would never get away from him,” she said in a tense whisper. She’d been so afraid that night.
What if he hadn’t died? But still, how would he have found her?
“Until the day the train left, I hid in the matchmaker’s house. She didn’t know what I had done, but I stayed away from everyone. I watched the newspapers.”
Sure, Mrs. Newton had been suspicious, but she was desperate for girls and she was not going to let one of them be picked up before she could get them out of town.
“Have you gotten any other letters since you arrived?”
She bit her lip. “One. Same mysterious message. I know where you are.”
Jesse leaned back and sighed. “Tomorrow morning I’m going to telegraph the matchmaker to see if anyone has been asking about you.”
Andrew nodded. “In the meantime, you are not to go anywhere alone. One of us will be with you at all times until this is settled.”
“You think he’s still alive?”
Her bottom lip trembled as she thought of him coming after her, after her men. He would hurt her and them if he could get to her. Frank Thompson had no soul, no fear of dying, and he liked to hurt people around him.
“Did you ever see anything in the paper about his death? Your sister’s death?” Jesse asked.
She thought back to that terrible time in Charleston and how she’d watched the papers every day hoping to see something.
“No, and I checked them every day,” she said. “So I didn’t kill him?”
Andrew pulled her to him. “Honey, I think he’s still alive and he’s coming after you.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’ve been so afraid you would learn the truth about me. That I’m a murderer and you’re saying he might not be dead. So this means you don’t want me to leave?”
“Never,” Andrew said, pulling her tightly against him.
“Never,” Jesse said. “But we’re going to catch this asshole and he’ll pay for killing your sister.”
Revenge for Elizabeth would be wonderful. Her sister, who she often called the lionhearted deserved to be avenged.
She leaned her head on Andrew’s shoulder and then Jesse’s. “Thank you. Thank you for marrying me.”
“And now it’s time to go to bed,” Andrew said.
“Sometimes you just need to be held and I think tonight is that night,” Jesse said. “Come on, let us take care of you.”
“Don’t worry about anything,” Andrew said. “We’re going to protect you and make sure this man never gets near you.”
Their kindness, their words, made the tears flow even harder as she glanced at them. “I’m so thankful I came here, met, and married you.”
They grinned at her, stood, and pulled her up from the couch.