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to the foyer.
    â€œRemember to send Andy for the sheriff when Beaudry regains consciousness.”
    Mattie pressed her fingertips against her throbbing temples. “I will.”
    â€œAre you all right?” he asked in concern.
    She gave him a shaky smile. “I’ll be fine.” Skepticism remained in his face. “Really, I will.”
    â€œIf this influenza outbreak wasn’t so bad, I wouldn’t go.”
    â€œI know.” She reached out and smoothed his shirtfront. He had become a stable influence in her life the last year, even making her reconsider her decision not to remarry. Kevin was nothing like Jason had been. “I’ll miss you,” she said.
    â€œI’ll miss you, too.” Kevin brushed her cheek with the back of his hand, a gentle touch that did little to calm Mattie’s fears. “I hope to be back in a week or so, then we can move Beaudry to my spare room at the office.”
    Only a week—she could tolerate the gunman in her house for seven days. Fewer if he died….
    Mattie thrust that thought aside and managed another smile. “Be careful.”
    â€œDon’t worry. As long as I know you’re here waiting for me, I’ll be extra prudent.” Kevin kissed her cheek lightly. “Good-bye.”
    Mattie listened to his footsteps echo across the porch and down the wooden steps. Then it was silent except for the clock’s pendulum, but the steady rhythm failed to comfort her as it normally did. Clint Beaudry’s presence unnerved and frightened her. But she’d proven she could survive on her own. She’d turned this place into a boardinghouse and learned how to manage a business by herself. She could handle this, too.
    Her gaze moved up the stairs. She should go and sit with Beaudry, but the thought of being in the same room with him made her palms sweat and her mouth go dry. Why was she afraid of an unconscious man who already had one foot in the grave?
    Andy and Herman entered, and her son asked, “How is he?” His hazel eyes were wide and his face anxious.
    â€œStill alive,” Mattie replied. She glanced at Herman, who puffed his pipe as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Do you know this gunman?”
    The old man shook his head. “Nope, never heard of him.”
    â€œI thought you knew all the fast guns this side of the Mississippi.”
    â€œI do, which means this feller ain’t one.”
    Mattie couldn’t accept that. She’d seen Beaudry’s well-oiled gun and tied-down holster, and both those told her he wasn’t a typical drifter. “I’m going to sit with him for a little while. Think you two can find something to eat in the kitchen?”
    â€œGot any more cookies?” Herman asked, a twinkle in his rheumy blue eyes.
    Mattie smiled. “I think there might be some left. After you eat, would you keep an eye on Andy for me?”
    â€œAw, Ma,” her son grumbled.
    Mattie laid a hand on Andy’s narrow shoulder. “I’ll feel better knowing you and Herman are together.”
    â€œDon’t you worry ’bout a thing, Mattie. Me and Andy’ll find somethin’ to do,” Herman assured her.
    â€œHow about fixing the corral?” she suggested, trying not to smile.
    Herman shuffled his feet like an overgrown kid caught with his hand in the candy jar. “That ain’t what I had in mind.”
    Mattie coughed to hide her laughter. Herman would rather be staked to an anthill than engage in manual labor, and she often wondered why Ruth had put up with him. She should insist he do some work around the place for his meals, but his genuine fondness for Andy made up for his lack of ambition. “Don’t be at the fishing pond too late,” she said, surrendering to the inevitable.
    Then Mattie climbed the steps and paused in the dim room’s doorway. She gazed at Beaudry’s still-as-death figure, and the back of her