Faithful Heart by Al Lacy

Myron.”
    When the two lawmen had ridden out of earshot, Jerrod turned to Dottie with fire in his eyes. “Why did you tell that Dr. Olson so much? He didn’t have to know everything that goes on in our lives!”
    Dottie heard Molly Kate eject a tiny whine. She turned to see her begin to back across the porch toward the front door, her eyes wide with terror.
    “You shouldn’t have done that, Dottie!” Jerrod bawled. “What goes on in our family is none of his business!”
    “Molly Kate, go on inside the house,” Dottie said. “See what James is doing. I didn’t just up and tell Dr. Olson everything, Jerrod. He figured most of it out by himself, and simply asked me if it was so. Would you want me to lie?”
    “You didn’t have to answer his questions! You could’ve told him to mind his own business!”
    Dottie could hear Molly Kate whimpering behind her. She glanced at her daughter, who was at the door but frozen to the spot and staring at her wild-eyed father.
    “Go on, honey,” Dottie said. “See what James is doing.”
    Molly Kate burst into tears. “No, Mommy, I can’t leave you! Daddy will hurt you!”
    “Jerrod! Look at Molly Kate!” Dottie cried. “You’re terrifying her! Don’t do this to us!” Dottie wanted to run, but she knew Jerrod could easily catch her.
    “You deserve to be punished, Dottie! Do you hear me? That doctor wants to put me in the asylum, that’s what he wants! And it’s your fault because you told him things you shouldn’t have. You must be punished!”
    Jerrod took a step back and raised both fists over his head as if to strike her.
    “Daddy-y, don’t! Don’t hurt Mommy! You promised you wouldn’t ever hurt her again!” Molly Kate screamed.
    Jerrod froze and looked past Dottie to the quaking, weeping little girl. His chest was heaving and his breath was rasping inand out. Molly Kate saw it and moved toward the edge of the porch, crying, “Please, Daddy! Don’t you love Mommy? If you love her, you won’t hurt her!”
    “That’s right, Daddy,” came a fear-filled voice from above. “You love Mommy, don’t you? Don’t hurt her! You promised you wouldn’t!”
    “James!” Dottie gasped, turning to see him standing at the window in Molly Kate’s room.
    Jerrod stared at James in the upstairs window, then looked again at Molly Kate. He studied her for a moment, still breathing hard, then looked at Dottie. He strained to gain control. An ache began as the pressure built behind his right eye, clouding his vision.
    Dottie shuddered and stared at him. “Jerrod,” she said softly, “I love you.”
    Jerrod ejected a wild cry, shook himself, then turned and ran toward the barn.
    Dottie looked up and said, “Come down, James. Quickly. I’m taking you and Molly Kate to Grandpa and Grandma Reeves’s house.”
    Maudie Reeves left the kitchen, carrying a cup of hot coffee, walked into the parlor, and stood over her husband, who lay on the couch.
    Will painstakingly worked his way to a sitting position. “Thank you, sweetie,” he said.
    Maudie handed him the steaming cup. “I really think we ought to go to town and let one of the doctors at City Hospital take a look at you.”
    “No need, honey. I’m okay … just bruised and sore. I’m sure nothin’s broken.”
    “Not even some ribs?”
    “Man’s lived in his body as long as I’ve been in this one, he knows it pretty good. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
    “Well, praise the Lord Jerrod was home or there’s no telling what might’ve become of you.”
    “Amen to that.”
    Maudie smiled. “Jerrod and Dottie are such precious kids. I don’t think there’s anything they wouldn’t do for us.”
    “Man couldn’t ask for better neighbors,” Will said. He blew on his coffee; it still wasn’t cool enough to drink.
    Maudie saw movement in the yard through the large parlor window that faced onto the front porch. She moved across the room to the window to get a better look. “Well, I declare! It’s