The Protectors: Defending His Own / Guarding Jeannie. BEVERLY BARTON

end of the the trial, to please Mother, you must promise me, here and now, that once I am no longer in any danger, you’ll leave Sheffield and never return.”

      “Do you honestly think I’d want to stay?”

      “Promise me.”

      “I don’t have to promise you anything. I don’t owe you anything.” He glared at her, into those bright, still innocent-looking blue eyes and wanted to grab her and shake her until her teeth rattled. Who the hell did she think she was, giving him orders, demanding promises from him?

      “You’re still as stubborn, as bullheaded, as aggravating as you ever were,” she said.

      “Guilty as charged.” He wanted to shout at her, to tell her she seemed to be the same little girl who wanted her own way. But this time she couldn’t go running to Daddy. This time Wallace Vaughn couldn’t force him to leave town. Nobody could. Most certainly not Deborah.

      “We seem to be at an impasse.”

      “No, we’re not. Once I settle in, pay a few visits on family and get the lay of the land, so to speak, you’re stuck with me for the duration.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he shook his head. “I won’t promise you anything, but I can tell you this, I don’t intend to stay in Alabama one day longer than necessary. And while I’m here, you don’t have anything to fear from me. My purpose is to protect you, not harm you.”

      They stared at each other, face-to-face, two determined people, neither giving an inch. Finally Deborah nodded, then looked away.

      “Dinner is at six-thirty, if you care to join us,” she said.

      “Fine. I’ll be back from Mama Mattie’s before then.” Ashe hesitated momentarily, overwhelmed with a need to ask Deborah why. Why had she gone running to her daddy eleven years ago? Had his rejection made her hate him that much?

      “I’ll have Mazie prepare you a room, if Mother hasn’t already seen to it.”

      “Thanks.” There was no reason to wait, no reason to keep looking at her, to continue wondering exactly what it was about this woman that had made her so unforgettable. He tried to smile, but the effort failed, so he turned and walked back inside the house.

      Deborah balled her hands into fists. Taking and releasing a deep breath, she said a silent prayer, asking God to keep them all safe and to protect Allen from the truth. A truth she had kept hidden in her heart since the day he was born, since the day she agreed to allow her son to be raised as her brother.

      Chapter Two

      As Ashe drove his rental car up Montgomery Avenue, into the downtown area of Sheffield, he noticed the new businesses, mostly restaurants—Louisiana, Milestones and New Orleans Transfer. Come what may, Southerners were going to eat well. Mama Mattie’s homespun philosophy had always been that if folks spent their money on good food, they wouldn’t need to spend it on a doctor.

      Mama Mattie. How he loved that old woman. She was probably the only person he’d ever truly loved. The only person who had ever really loved him. He could barely remember a time during his growing up years when he hadn’t lived with her. He had faint memories of living in a trailer out in Leighton. Before he’d started school. Before his daddy had caught his mama in bed with another man and shot them both.

      The courts had sentenced JoJo McLaughlin to life in prison, and that’s where he’d died, seven years later.

      Mama Mattie had tried to protect Ashe from the ugly truth, from the snide remarks of unthinking adults and the vicious taunts of his schoolmates. But his grandmother had been powerless to protect him from the reality of class distinction, from the social snobbery and inbred attitudes of elite families, like the Vaughns, for whom she worked.

      If he’d had a lick of sense, he would have stayed in his place and been content to work at the service station during the day and at the country club as a busboy on weekend nights. But no, Ashe McLaughlin, that bad boy who’d come from white trash outlaws, had wanted to better himself. It didn’t matter to anyone that he graduated salutatorian of his high school class or that he attended the University of North Alabama on an academic scholarship. He still wasn’t good enough to associate with the right people.

      He had thought Whitney Vaughn cared about him, that their passionate affair would end in marriage. He’d been a fool. But he’d been an even bigger fool to trust sweet little Deborah, who professed to be his friend, who claimed she would love him until the day she died.

      Crossing the railroad tracks, Ashe turned off Shop Pike and drove directly to Mama Mattie’s neat frame house.

      When he stepped out of the car, he saw her standing in the doorway, tall, broad-shouldered, her white hair permed into a halo of curls around her lean face.

      He had sent her money over the years. Wrote her occasionally. Called her on her birthday and holidays. Picked up special gifts for her from around the world. She had asked him to come home a few times during the first couple of years after he joined the army, but she’d finally quit asking.

      She wrote him faithfully, once a month, always thanking him for his kindness, assuring him she and Annie Laurie were well. Sometimes she’d mention that Miss Carol had dropped by for a visit, and told him what a precious little boy Allen Vaughn was. But she never mentioned Deborah. It was as if she knew he couldn’t bear for her name to be mentioned.

      Mattie Trotter opened the storm door, walked out onto the front porch and held open her arms. Ashe’s slow, easy gait picked up speed as he drew closer to his grandmother. Taking the steps two at a time, he threw his arms around Mama Mattie, lifting her off her feet.

      “Put me down, you silly boy! You’ll throw out your back picking me up.” All the while she scolded, she smiled, that warm, loving smile Ashe well remembered from his childhood.

      Placing her on her feet, he slipped his arm around her waist, hugging her to his side. She lacked only a few inches being as tall as he was. “It’s so good to see you again, Mama Mattie.”

      “Come on inside.” She opened the storm door. “I’ve made those tea cakes you always loved, and only a few minutes ago, I put on a fresh pot of that expensive coffee you sent me from Atlanta.”

      Ashe glanced around the living room. Small, not more than twelve by fourteen. A tan sofa, arms and cushions well-worn, sat against the picture window, a matching chair to the left. The new plaid recliner Ashe had sent her for Christmas held a fat, gray cat, who stared up at Ashe with complete disinterest.

      “That’s Annie Laurie’s Mr. Higgins. She’s spoiled him rotten,” Mattie said. “But to be honest, I’m pretty fond of him myself. Sit down, Ashe, sit down.”

      He sat beside her on the sofa. She clasped his hands. “There were times when I wondered if I’d ever see you again. I’m an old woman and only God knows how much longer I’m going to be in this world.”

      “Don’t talk like that. You’ll live to be a hundred.”

      Releasing his hands, she looked directly into his eyes. “Have you seen Deborah?”

      “Yeah, Mama Mattie, I’ve seen Deborah Vaughn.”

      “She turned out to be a beautiful woman, didn’t she?”

      “She was always beautiful, just not…not finished.”

      “Miss Carol looks bad, doesn’t she?” Mattie shook her head sadly. “That bout she had with cancer a while back took its toll on her. She’s in remission now, but we all live in fear she’ll have a relapse.”

      “She aged more than I’d expected,” Ashe said, recalling how incredibly lovely Carol Vaughn had once been. “But nothing else has changed about her. She’s still a very kind lady.”

      “So is Deborah.”

      “Don’t!” Ashe stood abruptly, turning his back on his grandmother, not wanting to hear her defend the woman who had been