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I looked at Xavier and saw that he was completely stunned. "Damn right," I said with a smile as I put my hand on his knee under the table. I wanted to ask my uncle questions about his little scheme, but the sound of a car horn out front stopped me. Xavier and I turned to look out the window and saw Sheriff Tiegs' SUV rolling to a stop outside the house.
Fear went through me as I took Xavier's hand in mine. I'd almost forgotten that this town had it in for Xavier and that the sheriff himself was looking for an opportunity to put Xavier back in prison.
It was Uncle Curtis who left the house first, followed by me, Xavier, and Jules. I went to drop Xavier's hand, but he refused to release it. Xavier and I had talked about the fact that we weren’t going to hide our relationship from the town and Eden, but this was the first time we were being put to the test, and admittedly, I was terrified that it would give Sheriff Tiegs another reason to go after Xavier.
"Can we help you, Sheriff?" Curtis asked politely, though there was no friendliness in his tone. The sheriff was standing by his door, looking as imposing as I'd ever seen him. His eyes dropped to where Xavier and I were holding hands. There was a shift in his expression, but I couldn't tell what it meant. I tightened my fingers on Xavier's. No matter what, I wouldn’t let him go back to prison. I had plenty of money saved up to hire a lawyer, and while I couldn't necessarily betray Xavier's confidence by telling the truth about it having been his mother who'd attacked my father, I would find another way to make sure that Xavier never saw the inside of a prison cell again. There were a million technicalities with the case, and if I had to get up on the stand myself and accuse my father of having manipulated the original prosecutor, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Instead of answering, Sheriff Tiegs opened the back passenger door. When Sara stepped out, Xavier released my hand and hurried down the steps. The girl was quiet and looked upset, but she wasn't crying. When Xavier took her in his arms, she clung to him.
"It's protocol to call child services in situations like these," Sheriff Tiegs began. "But after what I heard this morning, I think we all need a break from protocol."
"Where's my mother?" Xavier asked. I moved down the steps to stand at his side.
"She's okay. One of my deputies is with her. We’ll be transferring her to the hospital in a little bit."
"Hospital? What happened to her?" I asked.
"She asked us to take her there after we spoke this morning. She was feeling quite overwhelmed and said she wanted to see her doctor."
"I don't understand," Xavier snapped. "What's going on?"
Sheriff Tiegs looked at him. "What's going on, son, is that your mother has admitted to her role in what happened to Mr. Cunningham ten years ago."
"What?" I breathed at the same time that Xavier maneuvered Sara to me and said, "She didn't do anything. You know it was me. She's confused."
I put my arms around Sara to try to comfort the little girl, even though all I really wanted to do was grab Xavier and silence him. I understood his need to protect his mother and I loved him for it, but I was terrified that he'd say or do something that would land him back in prison.
"She brought us this," Sheriff Tiegs said right before he opened the car door and pulled out a plastic bag with a trophy in it. I recognized the trophy because my father had had dozens of them. The stallion he'd owned had won the trophies in various confirmation shows around the country. He’d kept the bigger trophies in the house and the smaller ones in the tack room. "Seems your mother began to remember some things after seeing a man she now understands is not the same one from all those years ago." The sheriff looked at me pointedly.
I realized he was talking about the day that Olivia Price had attacked me after assuming I was my father. The idea that that event had triggered some memories for her that’d caused her to confess scared me. As badly as I wanted people to know the truth, I didn't want to be the one responsible for Olivia going to prison. I looked at Xavier, expecting him to be angry, but he just looked resigned and he reached his hand out for mine. I understood his expression. He was giving me permission to do what he couldn’t.
"You need to talk to my father," I said to Sheriff Tiegs. "His behavior drove Xavier's mother to do what she did. And the fire was an accident. He smokes cigars all the time and he kept them in the barn. Xavier told him over and over again not to smoke in the barn, but he did anyway. It easily could have been a discarded cigar that started the fire. And Xavier was the one who got him out. If you don't talk to him—"
