Page 17 of Love’s Silver Bullet

“Claims he hasn’t told anybody yet.”

“Ha! He wouldn’t have to, because Megan Joy would shout it from the top of the flagpole in the town square,” Maggie said, knowing full well Megan Joy had been crazy for Jake for a while now. Her head tilted, lips easing into a coy smile. “Unless, of course, it wasn’t true, and he was just trying to put you off.”

“Exactly.” Sheridan plopped back against the headboard with a low groan. “Which only frustrates me all the more because knowing Jake and his aversion to lying, he’ll probably march right down to Burdzy’s and make all of Megan Joy’s dreams come true.” Moisture brimmed in her eyes as she clunked her head against the headboard, lashes spiking with tears while her voice trailed off. “Instead of mine ...”

Maggie studied her sister-in-law, eyes soft with sympathy as a seed of an idea germinated in her brain, thinking she probably shouldn’t get involved at all. But how could she watch Sher suffer in total misery knowing that Jake might very well follow through with Megan Joy? Exhaling loudly, she threw caution to the wind, coaxing Sheridan’s chin up with a mischievous wink. “And then again, sweetheart … maybe not.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

Sheridan glanced at Maggie with a definite flicker of hope in her eyes. “What do you mean?” she whispered.

“Well …” Maggie adjusted her skirt to sit Indian-style, conspiracy thick in her tone. “I can’t guarantee it will work, of course, but it sure did with Blaze …”

A delighted gasp popped from Sheridan’s mouth as her lips curved in a little-girl smile. “Oh, tell me, please!” she begged, voice breathy with anticipation.

“As you know, Blaze and I were good friends first—”

“Yes, I know”—Sheridan’s smile dimmed—“like Jake and I used to be before I grew up.”

“And will be again if my plan works, sweetie, so take heart.”

Sheridan’s lips took a slant. “Believe me, I’m trying to ‘take heart,’ Maggie—Jake’s!”

Maggie grinned. “Well, then, this may help. I don’t think anyone knew this at the time, but both Blaze and I struggled with our attraction to each other from the very beginning. But your brother made it abundantly clear he was not interested in a romantic relationship with a ‘so-called good girl,’ who would just ‘harp on him about God and church the rest of his days.’”

Sheridan smiled, her eyes aglow with gratitude. “I know, and we are all forever indebted to you, Maggie.”

“You’re welcome, but I owe a great debt to all of you as well for becoming the close-knit family I never had. Anyway,” she said with a quick brush of moisture from her eyes, “Blaze and I agreed to be no more than good friends”—she wiggled her brows—“until you bamboozled me into going to the annual rodeo dance with Clint Keller, which lit a fire under Blaze when Clint made a pass.”

Sheridan giggled. “You’re welcome.”

Maggie grinned. “Well, that was the night Blaze’s jealousy turned our relationship on its ear, coercing him into courting me good and proper.”

A wispy sigh floated from Sheridan’s lips as her gaze lapsed into a lovesick stare. “Ah, yes, I remember how romantic it was when you first told us.” Her gaze flicked back to Maggie with a scrunch of her nose. “Until my mule of a brother had to go and ruin it.”

Maggie’s nose immediately wrinkled as well, that rough patch in her and Blaze’s relationship not a happy memory. “Yes, well, the point I’m trying to make is, maybe if you suddenly focused on someone else other than Jake—”

“Ha! Don’t you think I’ve tried over the last two years? But between Uncle Finn, my brothers, and Jake, I’ve never been able to be alone with another fellow to even get to know them, much less make Jake jealous.” Her head flopped back down on her knees, face sagging. “And most of the boys at church and in town avoid me like the plague because of it, and the cowhands?” She grunted. “They steer clear like I have hoof and mouth disease, probably because Uncle Finn threatened them with their lives.”

“Mmm … that is a problem.” Elbow propped on her leg, Maggie gave it some thought, wishing there could be more of a balance in Sheridan’s life. Somewhere between being constantly thrown at suitors for profitable marital alliances like her stepfather had done to Maggie, and being locked away in a tower like Rapunzel by brothers and an uncle who just wanted to protect.

And there was no talking to Blaze, Dash, or Finn about giving Sheridan more freedom because Maggie had already done that a number of times at Sheridan’s request, all to no avail. The McShane and Donovan men were a stubborn lot, she’d quickly learned, especially when it came to family.

But at least Sheridan would have more freedom when she left for Vassar in September, Maggie mused, although she knew that even there, her uncle and brothers had their means of keeping tabs on her, unbeknownst to Sheridan.

Despite Finn’s reluctance to send Sheridan so far away to college, Libby had been relentless in convincing him to send their niece to her alma mater. Not only had she promised careful supervision by Libby’s Aunt Marie and butler, but via her former teacher friends at Vassar as well, where Libby had taught for over seventeen years.

She’d even talked Finn and Blaze into allowing Libby and Maggie to accompany Sheridan to New York to get her settled in at Libby’s Aunt Marie’s home for the first week. But Maggie knew Finn also had his own eyes and ears in New York to keep watch over his niece because Blaze had told her so. From the Dean of Vassar, to an old friend from Finn’s days at Central Pacific Railroad, Maggie had no doubt Sheridan’s uncle had his means of keeping her on a short rein.

Maggie peeked up at her sister-in-law, whose usual sunny smile was nowhere to be found. She wrestled back and forth, wondering if tight supervision—and more time to grow up—wouldn’t be the best thing for Sheridan after all, a sweet young woman yearning to experience love to the full, especially given her sheltered upbringing. At almost nineteen—Maggie smiled—or eighteen and a half—her sister-in-law was bursting with hunger and passion for life, not the safest of mindsets when coupled with a flirty innocence and naivete.

From little on, Sheridan had always been overtly affectionate according to Blaze, which was fine, he said, when she was a little girl with whom they could indulge in tickle fests or sit on their laps and smother them with kisses. But when she started blossoming into a woman, it put all the men in the family on guard, afraid her flirtatious nature—no matter how innocent—would get her in trouble where men were concerned.

Maggie sighed, her glum mood suddenly in tandem with Sheridan’s. “I don’t know, sweetheart—maybe waiting till you’re a little older is the best path to take after all, like your Uncle Finn wants you to do. You’ll be almost twenty-one by the time you graduate with your teaching degree, which is certainly old enough to finally catch Jake’s eye if he’s the one for you.” She gave Sheridan’s leg a gentle pat. “What do you say we pray about it, Sher?”

Sheridan groaned, butting her head back against the headboard with a look of anguish. “That’s just it, Maggie, I have prayed about—over and over—my entire life because Uncle Finn has always drilled it into our heads that prayer should be the first thing we do, not the last. Which I’ve always done, especially over the last two years, and I truly believe in my heart Jake is the one God has for me.”

Maggie’s smile was tender. “Then, if that’s true, sweetheart, Jake will still be here when you graduate, hopefully ready to fall in love with you as the woman God has had for him all along.”