Angel Mine by Sherryl Woods Page A

she was clearly living with a burden of pain that shouldn’t be hers. Heather reached across the table and clasped her hand, giving it a squeeze.
    “Don’t you dare blame yourself. It certainly wasn’t your fault,” Heather said. “The blame lies totally with that awful man. How could you possibly have known it would turn out the way it did? You told her what anyone would have, to get out and protect herself and her kids.”
    “Yes, but…” Henrietta sighed. “I supposed you’re right.” Then her voice took on a trace of anger. “But there was no way to protect her, not really. It seems as if there’s not a damned thing the system can do until it’s too late!”
    The door opened and the judge walked in just in time to overhear Henrietta’s last remark.
    “You’re blaming the system for one fool’s misdeeds,” he said. “No one could have stopped Lyle Perkins. He was a mean kid and a rotten adult.”
    “And everyone, including the sheriff, turned a blind eye to it,” Henrietta countered, scowling at him. “Oh, I don’t know why I waste my breath trying to talk to you about this,” she said, and headed for the kitchen.
    The judge sighed and slid into the spot she’d vacated. “I doubt she’ll ever stop blaming herself,” he said sadly. “Or me.”
    “What did you have to do with it?” Heather asked.
    “Since Lyle was never brought into court, nothing. That doesn’t stop Henrietta from thinking I should have come swooping in and locked him up, anyway. Barbara Sue never filed charges, so how could I? My hands were tied. And the one time Barbara Sue did try to defend herself by shooting him, she wound up in my courtroom. I was tough on her, said she couldn’t go around shooting people just because she thought they deserved it.”
    A rueful smile settled on his face. “You should have heard Henrietta. She stood up in the middle of that courtroom and blasted me from here to kingdom come. I could have held her in contempt and tossed her in jail right then and there. Probably should have, just to keep some decorum in the courtroom, but what she said had some merit. I took it into account when I let Barbara Sue off with probation. We got a restraining order against Lyle, too, so he couldn’t go near Barbara Sue when he got out of the hospital.”
    “But that didn’t stop him, did it?”
    He shook his head. “There’s no way to stop a man who’s determined to get even, not unless he messes it up the first time and gives us reason enough to throw him in jail. Unfortunately, Lyle didn’t mess it up. There’s not a minute that’s gone by since that I don’t ask myself what I could have done differently, but I have yet to come up with an answer.”
    “Henrietta must understand that your hands were tied legally.”
    “In her head, yes. In her heart, I doubt she’ll ever forgive me.” He gave Heather a wry look. “Not that there’s anything new in that. Henrietta’s made it her life’s work to hold a grudge against me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I foolishly let her down once, a long time ago. The woman has a good memory.”
    “But you keep coming back,” Heather pointed out.
    “So I do. Somebody told me once that persistence is a virtue. Henrietta might take exception to that, but I figure one of these days I’ll wear her down.”
    “And then what?”
    “I’ll marry her, of course, assuming we’ve both retained enough mental capabilities by then to repeat the vows,” he said wryly.
    Heather chuckled. “Maybe you need a new strategy.”
    He stared at her. “I’m listening.”
    “Flowers, maybe. All women love flowers.”
    “Henrietta’s allergic. She claims she sneezed for a week the first time I sent roses. That was thirty years ago and she’s never let me forget. Said I was trying to kill her.”
    “Candy?”
    “Won’t touch it. Says she gets all the sweets she needs in her own pies and cakes.”
    “Is there something else she’s fond of? Does she collect