Wolf Creek Father. Penny Richards

and she felt as if she’d made lifelong friends. Abby and Rachel Gentry, Gracie Morrison and Lydia North had become her closest friends. They shared fears, confidences and hopes and dreams. Widowed or spinsters, or like Ellie, uncertain of their status in life, their friendship benefited them all.

      And now she might have ruined everything.

      Realizing she had arrived at the mayor’s office, Allison paused at the door, her heart heavy with remorse and humiliation. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through Homer Talbot’s door before she lost her nerve.

      The mayor started to rise but stopped halfway out of his chair. Even through the fog of her nearsightedness, she could see the shock on his face. Remembering that she must look as if she’d been dragged through a knothole backward, she lifted a hand to tuck the hair behind her ear and push back the drooping rose. Then she attempted to smile without bursting into tears.

      “Hello, Miss Grainger,” the mayor said, rising fully and eyeing her from head to toe. The expression in his eyes was wary, but his tone friendly. “What can I do for you this fine summer day?”

      Allison drew herself up to her full five feet, one inch. “There was an...incident with the Garrett children at the mercantile earlier, and I wanted to come and tell you the straight of it before you hear something that isn’t true.”

      “I see,” he said with a frown. “Have a seat.”

      * * *

      Half an hour later, she stepped inside Ellie’s open door and let her gaze move around the café. Without her glasses, everything looked soft and fuzzy, as if she were peering through a fog. She squinted in an effort to bring things into focus, but even without her glasses it wasn’t hard to spot familiar faces. Mousy Grace, plain and tall and all angles with a smile to rival an angel’s, and Ellie, exquisitely proportioned and with a face to match, were engaged in a serious conversation at the back of the dining room. Almost as one, they looked up and saw her in the doorway.

      “You’ve already heard.”

      “Sarah VanSickle was here,” Ellie said, moving toward her with open arms and an expression of sympathy.

      Allison’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “So much for Sarah’s vow not to indulge in any more hurtful gossip.”

      “Oh, she wasn’t really gossiping,” Gracie clarified, her pale blue eyes serious. Gracie never said a harsh word about anyone. “It’s just that she saw the whole thing and she said that those children needed a woman to take them in hand and one to take the sheriff to task, since it appears he has little control of them. She said it’s a wonder you weren’t really hurt.”

      “Are you all right?” Ellie asked, holding Allison at arm’s length.

      “I’m not sure.” Sudden weariness washed over her. The emotion that had carried her through the past hour had drained her and she wanted nothing more than to go back to her little three-room house across the railroad tracks and crawl into bed. Maybe the whole messy ordeal would turn out to be nothing but a bad dream.

      Drawing a fortifying breath, she pulled off her other glove and shoved both into her reticule. “I think I just sabotaged my future here.”

      “What?”

      “How?”

      Both Ellie and Grace spoke at once. Ellie pushed Allison toward a table and called for her daughter, Bethany, to bring her aunt a cup of coffee.

      The fortifying beverage delivered, Ellie said, “Tell us everything.”

      “I went to speak to the sheriff about what happened.”

      “What did he say?” Gracie asked, a frown furrowing her high forehead. She was the worrier of the group.

      “He said a lot of things, among them that I was in a snit and that maybe I didn’t like his children.” Recalling the menace he’d radiated as he glared at her across his desk, Allison gave a little shudder. “He’d already accused me of picking on Brady.”

      “What? When?” Gracie asked.

      “At the end of the year when I suggested that he and Brady work on his reading throughout the summer.”

      “Tell us what happened,” Ellie commanded in a gentle tone.

      They listened as Allison related her encounter with the sheriff. As she talked, Ellie’s smile grew broader.

      “It isn’t funny,” Allison said after she wrapped up the tale. “I’ve already talked to Homer, who was none too pleased.”

      “What on earth did you tell him?” Ellie asked.

      “Well, he already knew I’d spoken with the school board about the children on numerous occasions. I’d assured him I’d discussed things many times with the sheriff but that nothing changed.

      “Then I told him what happened at the store. He seemed shocked, and when I told him I’d confronted the sheriff, and that he and I had...words, Homer was not happy. I may lose my job over this.” She groaned and shook her head. “I can’t believe I lost control that way. I never fly off the handle like that.”

      “No one is perfect,” Gracie said. “And maybe if the mayor talks to Colt, he’ll be forced to do something about Cilla and Brady’s behavior.”

      “I pray you’re right.”

      “Well, I’m glad you told Colt just how dreadful his kids can be,” Ellie said. “I told him as much, too. And having been a victim myself, I can only imagine what you’ve been dealing with the past year. I dread the thought of coping with those two all day.”

      “Surely they can’t be that bad,” Gracie said. “I mean, I’ve heard rumors, but...”

      Ellie pressed her pretty lips together to keep from saying something she shouldn’t, and gave Allison a pointed look.

      “Well, Priscilla disrupts class at least two or three times a day, and must be either stood in the corner or given extra work to do. She is sarcastic, argumentative, and at times her behavior verges on outright defiance.”

      “Never say it!”

      Allison nodded. “In general, Brady is a sweet enough child, but he falls more and more behind every day, since he can’t seem to grasp any part of the concept of reading. As you know, if you can’t read, you have trouble with other subjects and even some mathematical problems.”

      “That’s true,” Gracie said, frowning.

      “When I comment on an incorrect answer, he becomes resentful and belligerent and often refuses to do anything I ask of him for the remainder of the day. He’d rather stand in the corner than comply with any request I might make.”

      “What does the sheriff say?” Gracie asked.

      “That he’ll take care of things, but he doesn’t.”

      “The thing is,” Ellie chimed in, “Colt is smart, dedicated and honorable. He really cares about people and he’s very hardworking, but when it comes to those kids, he’s a total failure. They rule the Garrett roost.”

      Allison nodded in agreement. “I told him he needed to take more control.” She made a disgusted face. “He didn’t appreciate it much.”

      “Well, if they’re as bad as all that, don’t you think someone should try to find out why?” Gracie said, looking from one friend to the other.

      A little surprised by the logic of the comment, Allison and Ellie stared at each other. Leave it to Gracie to cut to the chase.

      “Let’s face it, men don’t relate to children the way women do. Don’t you imagine it’s been hard for them growing up without a mother?” Gracie asked, ever the one to see the other side.

      “I suppose so,” Ellie conceded.

      Allison shifted in her seat, as a wave of