As quiet as a mouse, he tiptoed from the room.
“You look like hell.”
His head came up, and he glared at Houston, standing in the front doorway. “I feel like hell. You want some coffee.”
“Nope.” Houston stepped inside, his hat in his hand. “Just thought you’d want to know that the circuit judge arrived. Loree’s trial will be tomorrow.”
Austin’s stomach clenched. “Considering the fact that McQueen killed her family, maybe they’ll let her go,” he said hopefully.
“If you’d been meeting with her lawyer like the rest of the family, you’d know Boyd ain’t the one on trial here.”
He didn’t like the censure he heard in his brother’s voice. “What do you want me to do, Houston? My responsibilities didn’t go away just because my wife decided to clear her conscience. I’ve got chores to take care of along with a baby. Takes me hours to get any milk into him. Every time I go to change him, he pisses on me—”
“I knew he was smart.”
“What does that mean?”
“You told me once that if a woman loved you as much as Amelia loved me, you’d crawl through hell for her.”
“I’ve crawled through hell. I don’t recommend the journey.” The fury that had been building inside him burst through unexpectedly like a raging river. He planted his hands beneath the table and sent it crashing to its side. “And now Loree’s gonna crawl through hell. I told her I’d take care of everything.” He spun around, the anguish nearly doubling him over. “Why did she have to confess?”
He heard Grant’s startled cry and felt as though the roof would cave in on him at any moment.
“Let me get him,” Houston offered, crossing into the bedroom without waiting for an answer. Austin heard the blissful silence and wondered how long it would last. Houston came out of the bedroom, holding Grant in his arms. “Why don’t I take him home? Amelia can feed him—”
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Houston. I can’t stand the thought of her going to prison.”
“See if you like this thought better. Duncan has petitioned for her to hang.”
Chapter 19
Austin stood inside the doorway, staring along the length of iron bars that made up the jail cells. He saw Loree in the cell at the far end, the cell in which he’d once slept, ate, and worried while awaiting his trial. He hadn’t meant to abandon her, but he realized now with startling clarity that he had.
She stood on her cot beside the brick wall, stretched up on her bare toes, hanging on to the bars of the window, and looking into the night.
“What are you doing?” he asked as he ambled toward the last cell.
She spun around and nearly toppled off the cot before catching her balance. Her eyes wide, her hand pressed just below her throat, she grabbed onto one of the iron bars and stepped off the cot onto what he knew was a cold stone floor. “I was looking for a falling star so I could make a wish.”
“What’d you wish?”
She angled her head slightly and gave him a quivering smile. “If I tell you, it won’t come true. But then it probably won’t come true anyway. I was wishing you’d forgive me.”
She looked so damn tiny standing in that cell in her yellow dress and bare feet. He furrowed his brow. “That a new dress?”
She nodded quickly. “Dee brought it over. She made Larkin take me over to the hotel so I could have a bath. He didn’t want to, but when she started shouting, he jumped. I wish I had her courage.”
He smiled slightly at a distant memory. “You should have seen her when she first married Dallas. She hid under his desk on their wedding night.”
Her eyes widened. “I can’t imagine that.”
“That’s the way it was.”
She gnawed on her lower lip. “How’s Grant?”
“Missing his ma.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes.
