Chapter 11: Sheriff Gerald Brown

Sleepily, Shirley propped one eye open, then squinted against the blazing morning light.

“Forgot to pull the curtains,” she thought.

Then she caught sight of her fiancé strapping on his heavy equipment belt, with handcuffs and holstered revolver. They were starting the fourth month of being together in a relationship.

Struggling up on her elbows, she put her eyes on his elbow, the only part of him that remained in the shade. At this elevation, the sun’s rays were particularly harsh.

“You’re up already?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Sheriff Brown wants me to come to his office this morning.”

“Oh, yeah? Uh, wait, I’ll get dressed and go with you. Kitty’s is closed today, you know. Go start the coffee; I’ll be quick.”

“You don’t have to come.”

“No, I want to. After three months together, I want to meet the guy you work for. Dennis! Coffee!”

“Right away, boss.”

Together in his official Plymouth, they jostled down the poorly paved highway out of Cedar Grove. She asked him about the sheriff. Married? Kids?

“Let’s see. Godfrey Brown is a wounded combat veteran. In Italy, he took a bullet through the meat of his upper leg. Before he could be treated, he got an infection, so they sent him home. He’s a Jack Mormon; he’s married with no kids.”

“What’s a Jack Mormon?”

“He grew up in a Mormon family, but he returned from the war having lost his faith. He doesn’t talk about it much. He struggled for a bit but settled down after marrying Lois. Like a lot of veterans, he made his career in law enforcement. He was in the Aurora City Police near Denver. Then he moved down to this county and became a deputy. When the old sheriff died, he ran unopposed, and he’s been in office ever since.”

“So he treats you well?”

“Oh, sure. So long as I keep a lid on Cedar Grove, I hardly hear from him. He’s not bossy, like you.”

He smiled, making clear that he was only teasing.

“If you weren’t driving, Dennis, I’d get you back for that.”

Already bound together like a young married couple, they were still playful and teasing. Also, very sexual.

In the courthouse, Shirley took her seat in the sheriff’s outer office.

“Hello, sir, what can I do for you?”

The sheriff explained that he was receiving complaints about York from busybodies in Cedar Grove. Scandalously, Dennis was known to be openly parking his patrol car at Shirley’s overnight.

“If you saw her, Sheriff, you’d understand. She has big, round, wonderful...”

“Son, the next word out of your mouth had better be eyes, or I will arrest you myself!”

“Sorry, sir. My error, sir. Won’t happen again, sir.”

“Snuff out that fake military talk, Deputy. Listen, keep this absolutely quiet. Lois came to me and explained she was pregnant, so we had to marry immediately. Then we fell in love, she gave me Debbie, and we were so very happy. But then Debbie caught the mumps, and she died at only five...”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I had a little sister; she got the whooping cough. I tried to take care of her, but when my mother got home, she, she was dying already...”

“Dennis, I’m so sorry. How old?”

“She was just five, and I was twelve. I’d been feeding her, changing her diapers; I was her big brother. After she died, my parents split. I never saw my father after that.”

“We all had the mumps; it sterilized one or the other of us, so we haven’t been able to have another child. I saw so many horrors in Europe, then ... Listen, this is getting much too personal; I’m sorry.

“Getting back to the reason I called you here. Deputy, you have to understand, I’m in an elected office, and I can’t be seen condoning adultery.

“If you continue seeing Shirley, she has to come to your place so your official vehicle is appropriately parked. I have to insist on that, or, you have to marry the girl. Is she here? I’d like to meet her.”

They walked out past the front counter and she shook hands with the sheriff.

“You’re right, Shirley does have lovely ... eyes.”

With difficulty, Dennis stifled a laugh while his boss smirked. Shirley looked back and forth between the men, confused.

“Young lady, I gave your boyfriend some instructions. But you’ll have to excuse an old lawman for being direct. He needs to make an honest woman of you.”

Taken aback, she didn’t know what to say. The dispatcher hollered from the back room, so he said goodbye to them with a warm smile and retreated to the inner offices.

On the drive back, Shirley was uncharacteristically silent for a while, and then she turned to face him.

“Dennis, what was all that about?”

“I’m sorry. He said people were complaining to him about seeing this car parked at your little house overnight. The scandal was a political problem for him.”

“Oh, I see. We haven’t been very discreet. It’s my fault.”

“Don’t be silly. I could have left after you fed me that night. But I succumbed to your cooking and your feminine wiles.”

He took his eyes off the road momentarily to openly stare at her chest, knowing what he would see underneath her tight sweater at the next opportunity.

“Wiles? That’s your name for my breasts?”

“Again, don’t be silly. He only wants you to be at my place when we’re together overnight, so this car isn’t parked around Kitty’s place. Or, he said, we could get married.”

His voice pitched up on the last word, sounding hopeful. But she wasn’t having it.

“Dennis York, that’s the worst marriage proposal in Colorado history. I expect flowers, a ring, and you getting down on your knees. I’m going to withhold sex until you get your act together, got it? Oh, stop that! Big, bad Deputy York is whimpering like a sad puppy. I’m not buying it. Wait, what are you doing?”

“Just wait a sec while I finish turning around.”

“You’re going back? You’re mad at me?”

“No, Shirley. I like living in Cedar Grove, but there’s two things the town lacks.”

“Department stores? Enough snowplows?”

“No, sweetie. Jewelers and a flower shop.”

“D-Dennis?”

“I love you. You’re absolutely right. I can do better for you. Wait, why are you crying?”

“Don’t be dumb, Deputy York. (Sniffle.) They’re hap, happy t-tears! Can’t this heap go any faster?”

“Of course it can. But not on this road, it’s terrible.”

“Yeah, be careful, I need to get you back in bed safely.”

“Bed? Really? I could go Code Three; that means with the red light and siren.”

“Sweetie...”

“You’re stopping? You don’t want to go home?”

“I do, yes, but here will be fine. I’ll just fetch a blanket from the trunk.”

“Hey! Can’t we wait for a comfy warm bed?”

“Don’t fret, I’m just making a place for you to sit.”

He’d brought them to a small city park near the courthouse. Nobody was around, as school was in session and the air was below freezing. He walked up to a picnic table, brushed the snow off the bench, and put down the folded blanket.

“Sit here, please, and hold the flowers.”

He checked that the stems were in her right hand, then he kneeled at her feet and took hold of her left hand.

“Oh, my!” she breathed, while exhaling a misty fog into the crisp mountain air.

“Shirley Bea LeConte, will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes! I love you, Dennis York.”

He slipped the golden ring with the sparkling little diamond onto her left hand’s third finger.

“Dennis, love, I’m shivering, and not just from being cold. Let’s get back in the car before parts of me get frozen shut. I’m too cold right now to speak delicately.”