I sat there in the dark, a headache keeping me awake. I’d texted Alison a couple of times when I’d found my wallet and phone, which were on the bedside table. She hadn’t answered and my guts were twisting. She’d barely acknowledged me with our parents in the room. Mom and Dad knew; but they hadn’t even commented on it when I saw them. Was Alison having second thoughts now? I was chasing my tail in the dark, not getting any sleep, when the door opened and closed, only briefly letting in a sliver of light. I couldn’t see who it was, but when I smelled strawberries and vanilla I calmed. The side of my bed was lowered, and Alison scooted in on my good side, making me hold her tight with my good arm.

“You aren’t getting out of this easy cowboy,” she whispered to me.

“I thought you changed your mind,” I told her, wanting to wipe my eyes, but my arm was stuck keeping her from falling off the edge of the hospital bed.

“No, I love you. I always have.”

“I love you, too,” I admitted, and something broke open in my chest and all the pain and self-doubt floated away with my worries.

“I just didn’t know what Mom and Dad had told the kids.”

“Is that why I was getting the cold shoulder?”

“I’m sorry if it felt that way, I just didn’t want to hog the attention from you. Everyone was there to see you and it’s all little Kyle could talk about… you waking up.”

“I was so scared that you’d changed your mind…”

“No, never. I just wanted to give Mom and Dad a day or so until I sprung the news on them.”

“News?”

“That we’re getting married, silly,” she laughed at me when my jaw dropped open in shock. “Kidding, really.” Score: Ali – 1, Me — 0

“What news?” I asked her, finally finding my voice.

“That you broke out of the hospital early and took me home to our cabin,” she whispered, her hand rubbing the smooth skin on the side of my jaw line.

“Why would I want to do that? The doctor said…”

“The doctor is also keeping about three dozen reporters away. You think the incident with Tim was big?”

“Yeah, folks from town knew about it right away.”

“Well, you got shot in the head and survived, and busted up some kind of illegal casino operation. You’re the biggest news to have ever happened in this town. The story got picked up by The Associated Press. With the corruption charges being leveled at the sheriff’s department, let’s just say this is really big news around here.”

“Corruption?” I asked, but I could feel her nodding.

“So if we leave in the dead of the night… we can avoid the circus that’ll be here in the morning.”

“Did you think of this all on your own?” I asked her, appreciating the heads up. I didn’t want to walk through that circus or be wheeled out through it now that I thought about it.

“No, I had help from my getaway driver. Now, get dressed.”

“Getaway driver?”

“You’ll see.”

I got dressed as fast as I could, but Ali had to help me. I’d eaten, but was still weak from being laid up for a week. Ali looked out into the hallway and then motioned for me to follow. We were able to get to the elevators without anybody noticing and when we got to the bottom floor, Ali put her arm through mine and we strolled out of the Emergency Room doors like a couple. I wasn’t surprised to see my Jeep idling at the curb, the windows dark. Alison opened the passenger door and climbed in the back seat and pulled the seat back so I could get in.

“Hi, Sandy.”

“Surprise!” She grinned.

It had been one of those weeks.

* * *

I waited a few days, just gathering my strength, dodging phone calls and reporters who would drive out to the ranch. Alison and I were inseparable, and it was time for me to make my official statement to the Sheriff’s Office and get my guns back. My shoulder wasn’t as bad off as I’d feared once I’d gotten the stiffness out of it, but I still had it in a sling for another week to make sure I didn’t tear things open.

The reporters were waiting at the Sheriff’s Office.

“Shit. You know about this?”

“I suspected,” Jackson had said, volunteering to drive me out there. “They’ve been hanging around town, waiting for you to come out.”

“Let’s get this over with,” I said, and opened the door of the Jeep and stepped out.

The mass of bodies surrounded us, and with everyone yelling at once, I couldn’t make out any of the questions. Jackson worked his body like a wedge until we were almost at the Sheriff Department’s doors when one question, I heard plainly, caught my attention.

“Cameron, is it true that you plan on changing the way the department is running?”

“Excuse me?” I asked, and the rest of the reporters quieted down to hear the interaction, recorders held up in the air.

“The sheriff’s department. You’re running in the special election right? How are you planning to change the department?”

“What is this?” I asked Jackson, quietly. He just shrugged.

“I don’t know about the special election. I’ve been a little under the weather,” I pointed to the stitches over my left eye, and some of them chuckled.

“Somebody nominated you as a candidate. If you didn’t know, then what’s your reaction to that?” another reporter asked.

“Surprise? I don’t know. This is my first time off the ranch since the incident happened.” My cell phone was buzzing in my pocket. I didn’t pull it out, but hit a button to stop it. It immediately started up again.

“So you don’t want to be sheriff?” another lady asked, pushing her recorder closer to me.

“I never said… wait a minute…” My phone buzzed again.

“If you got the job, what would you do?” a female reporter from the front row asked me, her voice quieter than the others. I smiled, knowing she was the only one not attacking me like a shark to get a story, so I turned to her.

“If I were sheriff, I’d start following the letter of the law, the same way Tyler Bart should have been doing all along.” My phone buzzed again, but I turned from the reporters, going in the door before pulling my phone free and seeing a dozen text messages from Alison, Mom, Bill and one from Carl.

I stopped walking and got out of the doorway to read it, ignoring the yammering of the reporters behind me. I opened Carl’s first.

“Tim just woke up. Said to tell Alison he was sorry, said to tell you sorry. Those were his first words.”

“Thank God,” I murmured and handed my phone to Jackson to read the message. Even his eyes suddenly had dust in them.

The other text messages were about the same thing; Alison’s message hitting me the hardest…

“I can forgive Tim if you can.”

I wiped my eyes one more time and walked up to the counter, watching in awe as the deputies all snapped to attention.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Well, sir,” Owen said, dropping formal posture, “you’re the only candidate, so we figure we’re looking at our new boss. After getting shot in the head, nobody wants to run against you,” the last was said with a grin and a laugh.

“So you guys are sucking up before I get the job?” I asked, smiling.

“Yes, sir.”

“What if I don’t want the job?”

“It’s an elected position, you could turn it down. Work on the ranch. Besides, the election is in another month. Owen here is acting sheriff in the meantime,” Jackson said.

“What if I take it?” I whispered to him.

“Then nothing changes, but where you work.”

“What if I…”

“Sir, don’t overthink things. Want us to give the reporters an official statement for you?” Owen was smiling.

“I’m actually here to get my guns…”

“Of course. Give me a second,” Owen disappeared into a back room.

“Sheriff?” I whispered to Jackson.

“Don’t be mad, I always knew you liked the cowboy life. Now you can have both sides if you want it.”

“You did this?”

“I did.”

“Why would you do this to me?” I asked, not sure if I was thankful or mad at the old cowpoke.

He chuckled and looked at me thoughtfully for a moment before answering. “Because the timing was right. When the dust settled, you’d need to have something to do to move on with things, and you’d have health insurance in case Alison and you ever decided to have a kid of your own.”

Oh shit.

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Do Mom and Dad know?”

“Not yet.”

“Here you are.” Owen came back, holding my rifle, pistol, and holster. I clipped the pistol on my belt and put the sling of the rifle over my shoulder. He handed me the satchel and, judging by the weight, it held the magazines. I found one for my pistol and loaded it, and left the ones for the rifle alone.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I think so,” I told him.

“Good. Don’t say anything to the reporters you don’t want to. We’ll head back home.”

“But don’t I have to give a statement to the authorities?”

“No, you’re all set,” Owen said.

“Well shit.”

“Let’s hurry,” Jackson said, opening the doors. “Unless you want to talk to them?”

“Fuck that,” I murmured and followed in his wake.

* * *

We were all sitting down to a family dinner, Mom and Dad, Sandy and Jackson, Alison and I, and Kyle and baby Lilly. There was something that I’d wanted to bring up, and though Alison and I hadn’t talked about it directly to Mom and Dad, I knew avoiding the talk would only make me feel worse, guiltier. Alison had moved into the cabin with me… it was something we needed to talk about.

“So Mom, Bill. Uh…”

Everyone stopped talking and Jackson had a forkful of green beans almost to his mouth when he dropped them. I almost laughed, but I was too nervous.

“We haven’t talked about one thing. Alison and I.”

“There isn’t much to talk about, is there?” my mom asked me sweetly, I could see her hands shaking slightly.

“I just want to make sure you and Dad know how much I love her. Coming home was one surprise after another. This one was right up there, too.”

“You don’t get to pick who you love,” Bill said gruffly, but he was smiling at me. My heart broke; he’d accepted me? He was okay with this?

“I’m not planning on running out on you guys again.”

“I won’t let you,” Ali poked me in the side, making me spill my juice.

Shit! We got that cleaned up in record time, but Mom was smiling at me.

“Besides, it sounds like you don’t have long now until the board of elections is going to tell you if you won the race or not,” Mom said, the pride in her eyes shining.

“I didn’t think anybody else was going to run,” I admitted.

“Oh, I’m sure there were, despite what folks said. You’ve got quite the following in town you know.”

“If I get the job, what would people think about us?” I asked, pointing to Ali with my fork now that folks were talking and moving again.

“Does it matter?” Alison asked me, her eyes confused.

Not to me, but it might to you. Maybe not now, but someday down the road.”

“I don’t care what they think. I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted right here,” she tried to poke me in the side again, but I trapped her hand, pulling her close and kissing her hard.

She struggled for a second, her face immediately blushing a dark red to match her hair, but I didn’t let up until Jackson coughed. I pulled back to grin at Ali blushing furiously and looked to my mom and dad who were grinning.

“Mom, people here,” Kyle announced, being the one sitting closest to the end of the table.

Somehow, we’d missed the lights of somebody driving up to the big house, but Kyle hadn’t. Within a moment, we heard footsteps on the porch and then a few hard knocks.

“I get?” Kyle asked and when Bill nodded, he bounded out of his chair, a bundle of energy.

“Hi. Come,” Kyle opened the door and talked to the two men standing there.

He pulled them by the hands to the table. My heart was in my throat when I recognized one of them. Owen, in uniform. Maybe they found Dade and Karen, and then I noticed the other man. He was dressed in business suit, but his features and roughened hands gave him away as a rancher despite the garb he was wearing right now.

“Hey there Owen. Howdy Judge,” Jackson said, standing as the rest of the table did. I slowly got to my feet. Judge?

“We’re just stopping in, to wish you luck,” Owen said, putting his hand out. I shook it, shell shocked.

“If you’re elected, I need about a week’s worth of your time, son,” the judge said, resting his hand on my arm.

“Sure, what can I do to help?”

“Help me untangle the mess that Tyler left the county in. There are a lot of cases that just got slid under the table.”

“Sure Judge, no problem.”

“Bill, Jackson, sorry for bothering you guys, but the Judge and I were out this way and…”

“It’s no problem, pull up a chair and have some dinner,” Bill offered. One big family…

After we all ate, we had our fill of coffee. We’d talked about what had happened, gossiped about the FBI and their case. I guessed the county really was in a mess, and Tyler had been covering up a lot more than his nephew’s bizarre, violent behavior. There was a small meth ring that always got away clean no matter how well Owen and other’s tried to catch them. And a car theft ring.

We saw Owen and the Judge out the door when we finished. Kyle, of course, was doing his best to impress and ran to hold the door open for them.

“Bye. Come house again,” Kyle shouted, before closing the door hard, his accent cracking me up. The whole family was standing around me now. I was hugging them and laughing, and when Alison leaned in, I gave her a kiss, everybody cheering us on.

“See, I want to be sheriff cowboy like brother Cam,” Kyle yelled, and we all broke up laughing.

“Maybe I want you to bring home a set of handcuffs to play with,” Alison whispered into my ear, and despite myself, I could already feel myself responding to her suggestion.

“I think I can figure that out. Sheriff or not.”

“Good thing, Sheriff,” she teased and kissed me again. We all sat down to eat some dessert. One big family, something I never realized I’d always wanted.

I felt as light as a kite and just as free. If Dade and Karen ever came back from Mexico, I’d worry then, but now that I knew they were both complicit in this, I wouldn’t hesitate any more. Dade had made his bed when he’d fled with Karen. Someday I might have to worry about him, but that day wasn’t today. Today was about family. I’d walked away from one war into another, found love, maybe a job or two and became the man I’d always wanted to be.

--The End.