Chapter Eighteen
Brenda and Honey weren't surprised when Suzie didn't come back downstairs to the saloon all evening. Chet was one of her regulars, and it wasn't unusual for him to spend a lot of time with her. It was late when they finally saw Chet leave, and they expected Suzie to come down shortly thereafter. When she didn't, Brenda went up to check on her.
Brenda had just started down the hall toward Suzie's room when Suzie appeared in the doorway, wearing only her chemise.
"Oh, my God! Suzie—What did he do to you?" Brenda rushed to her side and slipped an arm around her abused friend.
Suzie's face was bruised and her right eye was swollen shut. She barely had the strength to stand, and Brenda helped support her weight.
"He beat me," she managed weakly.
"We have to get you over to the doctor. Are you strong enough? Do you think you can make it?"
"I think so."
There wasn't much strength in her voice, but Brenda knew her friend was a fighter. "Let's get some clothes on you and we'll go."
Suzie only nodded, and a short time later, Antonio and Brenda were helping her to Roni's office. They knew it was the middle of the night, but they'd also heard talk around town about what a good doctor Roni was, so they believed she would help them.
The late-night knock at her office door woke Roni, and she hurriedly dressed and went downstairs to see who was there. She opened the door to find the badly beaten saloon girl standing outside with the bartender and one of her friends.
"Doc Reynolds, Suzie's been hurt."
"Come in, please."
Roni held the door wide as they helped the injured woman into the office. Roni directed them to take Suzie to the back room.
"I'll be all right now," Suzie told Antonio and Brenda after they'd helped her to sit on the examining table. "You can go on."
"No. We're not leaving you here alone." Antonio was firm. He was angry about what had happened and concerned about her condition. "I don't trust him not to come back and cause more trouble tonight."
"No. He won't be back," Suzie managed.
Brenda gave her a gentle hug. "You're safe now, and we'll be right here if you need us."
"Thanks."
They left her there in the doctor's capable hands and went to wait in the outer office.
Roni went with them and locked the office door to make sure no one else could come in, then she hurried back to see to her patient. The young woman had obviously been assaulted, and she didn't want to take any chances that the man who'd done it might have followed her there.
"Let me take a look at you," Roni said, closing the door for privacy.
With great care, she helped Suzie lie back on the table and then checked her over to see if she'd suffered any broken bones. Luckily, nothing was broken, but she was badly bruised. The abuse she'd suffered had been cruel. Physically, Roni knew she would make a full recovery. Emotionally, she wasn't so sure.
"You will be all right, but it's going to take a while for you to heal," she explained as she helped her patient to sit back up. "Suzie, what happened? Who did this to you?"
Suzie had been mostly quiet while Roni examined her, but at her question, she began to cry. "He's never been like this before—"
"So you know this man?"
Suzie managed to nod. "I don't know what happened tonight. He was in a strange mood. Usually, he doesn't want anyone to know he's there with me, but tonight—tonight, everything was different. He was so angry, and he just started slapping me for no reason—"
"Do you want to tell the sheriff?"
"No!" she gasped. "Oh, no, I could never do that. Antonio said he'd never let him set foot in the Ace High again. It's just that—" Suzie paused and stared around herself.
Roni could tell she was still recovering from the shock of it all.
"I know some of the other girls have had to deal with men who get rough with them, but I never thought Chet would do anything like this. Not Chet."
"Chet Harrison?" Roni repeated, stunned and horrified by her revelation.
Suzie nodded miserably.
Roni struggled to control her reaction to the news. She couldn't let the other woman see how it upset her. Roni knew now it was no wonder Stacy had been having second thoughts about marrying Chet. Her friend must have sensed something wasn't right about him. There was obviously more to Chet than anyone had known.
Roni gave Suzie some medication for pain and told her bed rest would be the best thing for her during the next few days. She helped her down off the examining table.
Suzie steadied herself and looked up at the doctor. "Thank you for everything."
"You be careful." Roni helped her out into the outer office where Antonio and Brenda were waiting for her.
"How is she?" Brenda asked, quickly going to her friend's side.
"She's going to be all right," Roni told them.
Antonio came to help Suzie, too. He looked up at the doctor and thanked her before starting to lead Suzie from the office.
Roni unlocked the door and watched them move off down the street for a moment. Then she went back inside and stood just inside the door, staring around with unseeing eyes. She couldn't believe the brutal beating the young woman had suffered, and the knowledge that Chet was the perpetrator left her in shock.
Roni locked up and then went back upstairs to try to get some rest, but sleep wouldn't come. Thoughts of what Chet had done to Suzie stayed with her, infuriating her and filling her with a great sense of fear for Stacy. Roni was certain Stacy didn't know anything about this part of Chet's personality, and she feared that once they were married, she would find out—the hard way. She lay awake long into the night, trying to figure out what to do, and she finally decided to go to Jim and talk to him. She was certain Jim would be able to advise her.
After tossing restlessly for the remainder of the night, Roni got up early and went to see Jim at his house. She didn't want to risk anyone overhearing anything she had to say to him.
Jim was surprised by the early-morning knock at his door, and he was even more surprised to find Roni there.
"To what do I owe the honor of this visit?" he asked, smiling as he invited her in.
"I need to talk to you about something that happened last night."
He ushered her into his parlor. "What is it?"
"I had an emergency late last night. One of the saloon girls was brought in. She'd been beaten and abused."
Jim could tell Roni had been disturbed by what she'd seen, but he didn't understand what it had to do with him. "Is she going to be all right?"
"She should recover, but I've been up all night, worrying about this and trying to decide what I should do." Roni's expression was deeply troubled.
"You've already done everything you could." He was growing even more confused.
"You don't understand. The reason I had to talk to you about this is, the man who beat her so badly—"
Somehow, suddenly, Jim had a feeling he knew what she was going to tell him.
"It was . . . It was Chet."
Jim swore violently under his breath as he got to his feet to pace the room. "That man is such a damned fool!"
"What should I do about Stacy?" Roni worried. "Should I tell her what happened?"
When Jim turned to her, his expression was fierce. "She has to be told. We can't let her marry Chet without telling her the truth about him. I mean, if he ever laid a hand on her, I'd—" He stopped himself from saying any more.
Roni stared up at him, a look of wonder dawning in her eyes. "Oh, my God. You love Stacy, don't you?"
"Don't be ridiculous," he said quickly.
"You do. You love her."
"You don't know what you're talking about," he declared, trying desperately to deny the truth of his feelings.
"I know you kissed her."
"What?" Jim glanced at her sharply.
"Stacy told me."
He looked uncomfortable. "It was a mistake."
"Are you so sure?" she challenged.
Jim hesitated, and then answered, "No."
They were both quiet for a moment.
"Stacy needs to know about this. She needs to know what kind of man Chet really is before she marries him, and maybe she needs to know how you really feel about her."
"I'll ride out and talk to her today," he said, not at all sure how he would handle the revelations that must be made.
"Are you going to talk to her about everything?" she challenged, smiling at him sweetly.
"Roni, I don't know. I'll see when I get there."
"Do you want me to go with you?" she offered.
"No. This is going to be hard enough as it is."
Roni got up and went to him. "Thank you. And let me know how it goes when you get back."
"I will."
She left him, knowing she and Jim were doing all they could to keep Stacy safe, just as Walker had asked them to.
Stacy and Jim stood facing each other, alone in the stable of the Dollar. She wasn't overly glad to see him, considering how he'd acted the last time they'd been together, and she wasn't sure what to expect from him today.
"What is it? Why are you here?" she challenged a bit coldly.
"Roni came to see me this morning."
"So?"
"Something happened in town that she thought you ought to know about."
"What happened?" She was uneasy as she waited to hear his news.
"It's about Chet," Jim began.
"What about Chet?"
He knew it was an ugly tale, but he also knew she had to hear the truth. He quickly filled her in on what Roni had told him about the saloon girl's brutal encounter with Chet.
Stacy was glad they were alone in the stable as she listened to his horrible tale. "That can't be true," she denied.
He understood her pain at hearing the truth. "I wish it wasn't, but it is."
"Chet would never deliberately hurt anyone."
"Stacy, I know this is hard for you to accept, but Roni believed you needed to know what happened."
"Why would Chet do such a thing? It doesn't make any sense," she countered, trying to defend the man she'd agreed to marry.
"From what Roni told me, the girl said Chet was acting strangely, and when she got him upstairs, he started beating her."
Stacy cringed, completely disgusted with Chet. Then she frowned as she remembered how angry she'd gotten with him over his plan to buy the Thompson place, and how she'd practically thrown him out of the house. He had seemed calm enough when he'd left her, but what if—
Jim saw the change in her expression, and he wondered at it. "What are you thinking?"
"Chet and I did have a big argument before he left here yesterday," she told him.
"What about?"
"He came out to see me, and he was all excited about the Thompson place going up for sale. He wanted to buy it, but I told him no. I've got enough to handle just running the Dollar. I don't need or want the Thompson ranch, too."
Jim remembered the conversation he'd had with Chet at the bank some weeks before. "Did you know he came to me a while back and wanted to take out a loan to buy the Thompson ranch?"
Stacy looked up at him in surprise. "No. Chet never said a word to me about taking out a loan."
"He tried to buy it on his own, but I was hesitant to give him a loan since he doesn't have the collateral he needs to finance it. He said he'd have the Dollar soon and believed that would be enough, but I told him since you two weren't married yet, you were going to have to sign on the loan for him in order to get the money. He didn't say much at the time, but now—"
"He what? He wanted to put my ranch up as collateral?"
"That's right."
"What do you mean he couldn't use his own ranch to back the loan?"
"He owes too much on his place."
"I can't believe any of this. I know he has big plans for our future, but I never—" She turned away from Jim, outraged by what she was learning about Chet's secret activities.
Jim could tell she was deeply troubled by his revelations. "Stacy, I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you all this." He went to her and put a hand on her shoulder to turn her back to him.
She looked up at him.
Jim saw her strained expression. He wanted to comfort her, to find a way to make things better for her. He slowly drew her closer.
Stacy had been so hurt by his apology the last time he'd kissed her, she wasn't sure what to expect from him now. She watched him cautiously.
Jim bent to her and sought her lips in a gentle exchange.
Stacy knew she should move away from him.
She was still engaged to Chet, and it was wrong for her to feel this way about Jim.
But at that moment she didn't care.
She just needed the peace she found in the haven of Jim's embrace.
It was the distant sound of one of the ranch hands returning that finally drove them apart.
Jim's expression was serious as he gazed down at her. He knew she was deeply troubled by everything she'd learned. "If you need anything . . ."
Stacy was confused and conflicted by all that had happened, and she could only nod to him as he turned to leave her.
Zach came into the stable a few minutes later. "Stacy, is everything all right? I just saw Jim leaving."
"Everything's fine."
She answered him so quickly, Zach didn't really believe her, but he didn't pressure her. He went on back to work.
Stacy returned to her work, too, but her thoughts stayed on the news about Chet and the unnerving reality that she must break off their engagement as soon as possible.