content. I JUSt get . . . tired sometimes. Everything was going so
well until the day I walked into the bank. I'm ready to tell you what
happened if you want me to, " she added. "Then you'll believe me. I
know I've lied to you. I shouldn't have told you I wasn't there, but I
was trying to protect Caleb."
"I'm going to help you protect your son. I've found a safe place for
him, Jessica. You can't take him with you to Blackwater, and you know
you have to go." She finally accepted the inevitable. "Yes, I know.
Couldn't I leave him with Tilly? She loves him and would take care of
him. Caleb knows her.
He wouldn't be afraid or feel abandoned." Cole wouldn't hear of it.
"Jessie, everyone here knows who Caleb belongs to, and it would be easy
to get him away from Tilly. She's an old woman. I don't want to leave
him in Rockford Falls."
"Why would anyone want to take him? " she asked.
"Holding your son hostage is a good way to make you keep silent during
the trial."
"Oh, God."
"Jessica, the couple I've thought of will take good care of him. Let
me tell you about them. They're older. .
. like grandparents . . . " He spent a good fifteen minutes telling
her everything he knew about Tom and Josey Norton. He went into great
detail about Tom's background, stressing the fact that he had quite a
reputation with a gun and that he was now a lawman, but he didn't
mention Josey's lack of skills in the kitchen. When he had run out of
things to tell her, Jessica didn't seem to be quite as resistant to the
idea.
"You said they always wanted children? " she asked.
"Yes, " he answered.
"If you had a son, would you leave him with the Nortons? " "Yes, " he
said again.
"I'll have to meet them before I decide. If I don't like them and I
don't feel that they'll take good care of Caleb, I'm not leaving him
with them." She was determined to go with him, and nothing he could
say would make her budge on that issue.
1 8 1
"When do we leave? " she asked. "To go north with Caleb? " "Ah,
Jessie, don't start crying again. It's going to be all right. You
want to know that he's safe, don't you? " "Yes, yes, of course I do.
It's just that I don't know the Nortons, and I . . . " He started for
the door. "Pack light, Jessica. One bag for you and one for Caleb. "
"I have to talk to Grace before I go anywhere."
"It's out of the question."
"Will we be coming back to Rockford Falls after we take Caleb? " "No,
we're going directly to Texas."
"What about my things?
Everything I own is packed in Grace's wagon."
"I'll have it taken over to the livery stable. The owner can keep an
eye on it. You can ride a horse, can't you? " "Yes, " she said,