The Outlaw Bride by Sandra Chastain

road, a feeling akin to sadness settled in Josie’s chest, and she wondered if she’d done the right thing. And if she would ever see Sims Callahan again.
    Josie leaned against the post at the front door and watched.
    Behind her, Lubina’s voice cut through the silence. “I heard the two of you in the courtyard. It es good that he es gone.”
    Josie felt the heat of embarrassment flood her face. She kept her gaze on the wagon, a speck on the horizon now.
    “Dr. Annie and Mr. Dan will be back in a few days, and everything will be like it was,” Lubina said firmly.
    “No, it won’t. Nothing will ever be the same again, Lubina.”
    The housekeeper came to stand beside Josie. “You saved his life. That makes a bond between two people stronger than we can know.”
    “I was thinking about what you said the other night, Lubina, something about a black-and-white horse that came to take Callahan to another place. But it wasn’t the horse that took him away. It was Will.”
    Lubina sighed. “
Señorita
, I truly believe that it was the ghost horse who came. The Indians say that it always claims a soul. It’s just that sometime the person doesn’t die. Maybe the Indians are wrong. Maybe it returned a soul to a man without one.”
    Could Lubina be right? Everything in her life had been leading Josie to this moment—her past, her meeting Dr. Annie, and her schooling. But nothing had prepared her for the confusion. She didn’t have to be with this man to know the need was there. Now the man was gone—but she was having trouble dealing with the aftermath.
    “My grandfathers,” Josie said quietly, “believe that sometimes a person has to accept what fate sends them. I guess I’ve always done that, but I’m just now understanding that there are some things I have no control over.”
    She thought about the two rascals she’d learned to love and knew that they’d been trying to teach her a life lesson. Both her grandfathers went straight for what they wanted and knew how to get it. If fate didn’t provide, they gave fate a hand. She knew they’d want her to do the same thing.
    Three days later Will Spencer propped his booted foot on the brass rail of the saloon called Two Rails and a Mirror. He looked past the bartender to the spidery reflection of himself.
    “Hello, Sheriff Spencer.” Ellie Allgood leaned on the counter next to him and smiled.
    “I thought you had quit this job, Ellie.”
    Ellie tried not to flush. “I quit entertaining men. Now I just serve drinks. I wanted to thank you for asking Miss Miller to defend me, but you haven’t been in. I hear you’ve been busy trying to find some missing money.”
    “I think it’s with a missionary train heading for Oregon, but I haven’t been able to find it. Apparently the wagons left the main trail, and the rain has washed away any tracks. I finally had to ask the army for help in the search. How are things around here?”
    “Everything’s uneasy since the townsfolk heard Miss Miller is defending your prisoner. You sure he’s guilty, Sheriff Spencer?”
    “I don’t know. He and his brother were the last ones with the money. One brother is wounded and the other vanished with the saddlebags. It’s up to the judge to decide.”
    “Josie doesn’t think he’s guilty. She’ll get him off,” Ellie said, with new confidence that made Will give her a second glance.
    “Josie wants to prove to everyone that she’s as good at practicing the law as her mama is at doctoring,” Will said, frustrated. “She’s going to be the death of Dr. Annie yet.”
    Ellie sighed. She didn’t have to ask him why he was so cross. Everyone knew Will had been sweet on Josie Miller ever since he came to Laramie—everyone but Josie. But Will was just as blind, Ellie thought. Will never noticed
her
either.
    She hadn’t worried too much about her life, but since the trial she’d begun to look at herself differently. If what she’d heard about Josie Miller’s past was true,